Biden Tells Progressives He's Open to Means-Testing Programs

[left-of-center2012]

President Joe Biden told a group of progressives and members of the House leadership Monday that he
is open to setting income limits for some of the programs in his social-spending bill, to lower the price tag, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

During the virtual meeting, Biden also reiterated that he expects the legislation would eventual fall in the range of $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion -- down from the $3.5 trillion originally proposed, the person, who asked for anonymity to discuss the private talks, said.

That’s the amount the White House expects could win agreement from two centrist Senate Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, whose votes will be pivotal to passage, according to the person. Manchin also has advocated for the means-testing of some programs designed to benefit middle- and lower-income Americans.

Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement that the discussion with Biden was “productive and necessary,” but gave no details.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-04/biden-tells-progressives-he-s-open-to-means-testing-programs?srnd=politics-vp

[anotherOKIE]

1. Hope not

Means testing would never affect me because we are fairly poor people. However, if President Biden does agrees to means testing my respect and support for him will drop considerably. I will vote for him but not say much about respecting or supporting him. I think that everyone who pays into a social program should be able to benefit from it. Now, maybe I just don't understand what kind of means testing and for what kind of programs he is discussing and that I could be completely wrong about my feelings at this time.

[left-of-center2012]

3. What if the cut off line was $250,000 ?

Make the social programs available to those earning less than $250,000 ?

[Karma13612]

5. That could be doable.

Otherwise, if they try to tell me I can’t have my SS retirement money because I have a small 401K in the stock market, they will make me very angry.

We are told to save because SS will not cover our expenses as we get older. They better not cut benefits to the bone. I’m already a nervous wreck about this debt ceiling deadline. I cannot manage without my SS retirement money.

Biden needs to come out right away and full clarify the lower limit if he is going to entertain the idea of means testing.

And why don’t they mention eliminating or raising the payroll tax cap? For crying out load.

[left-of-center2012]

6. They won't do that

Even billionaires get their SS.
Your 401K won't matter.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

10. He did not say he was going to mean test Social Security

He is mean testing the child tax credit and other new social programs.

[mcar]

12. He's not talking about means testing SS

[Vinca]

18. Why? I already pay taxes so Bezos doesn't have to. Why should people who can afford it

not pay for child care, etc.?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. I did not get any of the stimulus checks due to means testing

I have no problem with means testing on some programs

[ColinC]

2. Good God no. Why not just fund it fully for half the time??

[Karma13612]

4. Wait, wha..

What do you mean exactly?

How would you apply that to something like Social Security Retirement benefits? Or do you mean things like unemployment insurance?

[ColinC]

9. Oh honestly I don't know. I just saw an article about it here a while back

I have been looking for it, but can't find it. Had to do with the feasibility of just shortening the time for the programs it covers, but I have no idea how that effects things like social security, etc.

But the take away seemed to be that it was possible to get a bill that is funded for five years for half the price....

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Means testing for social support is a barrier.

[Doremus]

8. Means testing is a foothold for the repukes to start lowering the cutoff threshold

That's why SS should never be means tested. Ever. The day they do is the beginning of the end of SS.

Means testing is handing the repukes a noose to use on us later.

[Xolodno]

11. Every time they go this route...it doesn't work out as intended.

For Student Loans, you have income based repayment....but its still far too high. Cost of living needs to be associated and income should be looked at the net level. So the changes they made, didn't help too much and still dealing with a problem. The same is going to happen here.

Now if you throw out an arbitrary number and use it nationally, its not going to reflect the reality that is on the ground. Sure, people in Wyoming aren't in danger of hitting limits on income for a very long time. In areas of California, Oregon, Washington, etc. they are going to hit that mark fairly quickly.

You need a multiplier against the state or even county poverty line. That way it continues to change as the poverty level changes. But I guarantee you, the GOP wants an arbitrary income number applied nationally. They don't have to worry so much about it in their red states, but blue states do have to.

[left-of-center2012]

13. For the responses mentioning social security

This thread is not about social security.

[NCjack]

14. Means test the rich. Each top 10% of our most wealthy should a team to check every line

of their tax forms for accuracy. That would be a meaningful means test.

[dsc]

15. So if you have two school teachers in NC, making say 40k per year each

that is 80k total and they have two kids. Manchin wants them to not get this credit. that is bull crap.

[SKKY]

16. Yea, I would be find means testing, as long as the limit isn't something...

...ridiculous like what Manchin is proposing. 125K for a single parent, 250K for a family seems reasonable. Unless of course they want to also run it through a cost of living calculator and base it off of locale. San Francisco would get more, for obvious reasons, and Pascagoula would get less for equally obvious reasons.

[aocommunalpunch]

17. Nope. Fuck you, Bloomberg.

MEANS TAX the fuck out of these rich pricks. They have more to give.

[left-of-center2012]

19. Bloomberg is just reporting the story

Bloomberg is not advocating the policy.

It's similar to AP news reporting a story.

[aocommunalpunch]

20. I should have been more clear.

I can see why that would be confusing, but I was literally calling out the service. Cheers.

[left-of-center2012]

22. "I was literally calling out the service"

Calling out Bloomberg for reporting it?

[honest.abe]

21. This may be the solution to pass this bill.

It would probably impact me personally but I would be happy to sacrifice to get this bill passed.

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. He pretty much has to be open to it at this point

He needs 50 votes in the Senate. Failure is not an option. He can not take that possible compromise off the table while negotiations continue.