Manchin Statement on Payroll Tax Cut Compromise, Protecting Social Security
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) made the following statement about the compromise offer to extend the payroll tax cuts that fund Social Security.
“I applaud any serious effort at compromise, but let me be clear: we should not and cannot jeopardize the way we fund Social Security and the promises we’ve made to our seniors. As I have said before, if we are serious about saving and protecting Social Security, we should not use Social Security contributions to pay for anything but Social Security. We should also think twice before we double down on a failed policy that created few – if any – jobs and instead cost billions in Social Security contributions. If we want to be serious about fixing problems, now is the time to put politics aside and come together around commonsense solutions that will address this nation's fiscal crisis, create meaningful reform that makes our tax code more fair, and protect the programs we care most about, like Social Security.
“Instead of short-term fixes, I again urge all of our leaders – from the President to the leaders of Congress – to please work with us to draft and adopt a template based on the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson recommendations that give us real reform.
“The bottom line is: if we don’t stop this now, I don’t believe that we’ll ever have the political will to make Social Security whole again with our payroll taxes.”
###
Next Article Previous Article
