One of the interesting aspects of the ongoing budget negotiations is that while Paul Ryan's proposal is an attack on the social safety net with a huge tax giveaway for the rich, the one thing it is not[But see update at bottom of post] is a call to cut Social Security:
Here is Paul Ryan’s path to a balanced budget in three sentences: He cuts deep into spending on health care for the poor and some combination of education, infrastructure, research, public-safety, and low-income programs. The Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts remain, but the military is spared, as is Social Security. [Emphasis supplied.]
Meanwhile, President Obama is
standing firm on insisting on Social Security cuts:
Obama had discussed entitlement reform with a dozen Senate Republicans over a private dinner last week. “I urged him not to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), an independent who caucuses with Democrats. [...] “At this point I think he is more inclined to cut benefits, which I strongly disagree with,” Sanders said.[Emphasis supplied.]
At this point it is impossible to deny that the idea of cutting Social Security is on Obama's wish list, not the GOP's. Why this is so is hard to fathom.
UPDATE: Bruce Webb informs me:
Along with the Roadmap Ryan released the Chairman's Mark of the actual legislation with Social Security discussed in Sec 704.
In that Section Ryan proposes that for the first time ever the Trustees use 75 year actuarial balance as their formal test and that any time SS fails that test, as it is now and has been for 20 years, that the Trustees by Sept 1 submit a specific package of 'reforms' to bring it back into balance, and giving the President 90 days to submit a package to Congress which then is directed to act under an "expedited process."
Death Panels!