Warning: Once the tax bill is passed, Medicare will be on the chopping block [View all]

[Honeycombe8]

...Republican leadership is focused on bigger entitlement programs. That’s because over $1 out of every $3 that the federal government spends goes to either Social Security or Medicare, now adding up to over $1.5 trillion in annual spending. Medicare will likely be the first to face cuts, since it only requires a simple majority in the Senate compared with the 60 votes required for budgetary changes to Social Security.

Having Doug Jones in the Senate SURE helps to protect against them having a majority to cut Medicare. But they can still do it, if all Repubs vote for it. I believe that, after Jones is seated, Repubs will have 51 seats in the Senate, enough to cut Medicare.

We desperately NEED to win seats in the 2018 elections. In the meantime, thank goodness Jones won! Even if only Susan Collins doesn't vote for steep Medicare cuts, they can't do it.

(I can't imagine they'd get the votes to cut Social Security; they'd need 60.)

Oops, I forgot the link. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-the-new-tax-plan-mean-the-end-of-social-security-and-medicare-as-we-know-it-2017-12-13