Lawmakers gathered in the nation’s capital Tuesday to discuss the looming debt ceiling, with both Republicans and Democrats struggling to push for their respective agendas.
Guy Williams, president of Gulf Coast Bank and Trust, joined WWL’s Newell Normand this week to explain what these discussions might mean for the future of Social Security in the U.S.
“We’ve reached a point where essentially all of the growth in government spending is on the social programs and on the mandatory programs,” he said. “Social Security, Medicare, welfare. Different benefits – and you hear politicians on both sides of the aisle say, I’m not going to touch Social Security. Well, what that means… is in eight years when the fund runs out of money, benefits will be cut 20%.”
President Joe Biden has said he will not touch Social Security, but he did not mention the program Tuesday in remarks about the debt ceiling negotiations.
He said there was a “productive meeting with the congressional leadership about the path forward to make sure America does not default — I emphasize does not default on its debt for the first time in history,” and that lawmakers are set to meet again Friday.
In a Monday interview with CNBC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that a failure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling in the coming weeks could cause an “economic catastrophe."
“Our national debt crisis is too important to play politics,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Tuesday. “That’s why House Republicans voted to avoid default and responsibly raise the debt limit.”
While this debt ceiling issue is urgent, Williams said the Social Security is slowly but surely creeping up.
“If you don't make any changes, the benefits will be cut,” he said. “And it’s like planning for college. It’s a lot easier if you have a 2-year-old than a 17-year-old when you’re planning for college. And unfortunately, we’ve known the Social Security problem was coming for years and years and we’ve done nothing because it’s easier to kick the can down to the next Congress. But we really need to look at adjusting Social Security for the current budget reality.”
Williams and Newell discuss what options the U.S. might have as far as Social Security is concerned, as well as banking turmoil and student loans. Listen to their full conversation here.
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