According to PBS host Tavis Smiley when Republicans say the words “entitlement reform” they really mean “balance the budget on the backs of the poor.”
On Monday, Smiley invited on GOP presidential candidate Lindsey Graham and when the South Carolina senator brought up the topic of entitlement reform Smiley offered the following translation of the term:
TAVIS SMILEY: Too often when Republicans say reform entitlements, they really mean gut entitlements.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah.
SMILEY: Put another way they mean balance the backs, balance the budget, rather, on the backs of the poor.
GRAHAM: Right.
SMILEY: Including the issue of income inequality, starting to get some traction here. But when you say, when Lindsay Graham says “reform entitlements,” what do you mean by that exactly?
Later on, when Graham suggested part of those reforms could be wealthier individuals accepting a “smaller Social Security check,” Smiley became skeptical that the “rich and the lucky” that make up the “financial base” of the GOP would be willing to make sacrifices.
The following are the relevant exchanges as they were aired on the September 21 edition of PBS’s Tavis Smiley:
TAVIS SMILEY: Too often when Republicans say reform entitlements, they really mean gut entitlements.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah.
SMILEY: Put another way they mean balance the backs, balance the budget, rather, on the backs of the poor.
GRAHAM: Right.
SMILEY: Including the issue of income inequality, starting to get some traction here. But when you say, when Lindsay Graham says "reform entitlements," what do you mean by that exactly?
...
GRAHAM: I mean that saving Social Security for those who need it the most. I’m 60, I’m not married, I don't have any kids, I'm doing very well financially. I make $175,000 a year, I've got a military retirement, a congressional retirement, what do I mean? I mean that Lindsey Graham will take less than promised because I'm willing to give up some benefits to make sure it's there for the people who need it the most.
I will challenge younger people to work a little bit longer because we all live a little bit, we live so much longer. But people in my income level would have to have a smaller cost of living adjustment and we'd have our benefit package reshaped to save it for people who need it the most. When I was 22, I needed every penny. I'm 60. I give and so can you.
Here’s one thing I would say about Tavis Smiley. If I asked you to take a smaller Social Security check than we promised, because we've got to adjust the system, you would say yes, don't you think?
SMILEY: I would.
GRAHAM: I think you would pay more into Medicare to keep it afloat.
SMILEY: I would. But there are only a few of us. I say a few of us. Not everybody can afford to do that. And the question is whether or not those who make up many, not all, but – the question is not whether or not those who make up the financial base, at least, of the Republican Party, the rich and the lucky, whether or not they understand that when it comes to reforming entitlements that we’ve got to address their corporate loopholes as well.
