 As of Thursday, the U.S. has officially hit its debt ceiling, meaning that the Treasury Department is now using what's known as extraordinary measures in order to avoid defaulting on the debt that we already owe. Now in the event we were to actually default on our debt, that would be catastrophic. In fact, catastrophic would be an understatement. It would trigger a severe recession, jobs would be lost, it affect payments to Social Security and much more. And Republicans have been pretty open about the fact that they're willing to play a dangerous game of chicken with Democrats and put the full faith and credit of the United States on the line in order to force Democrats to acquiesce to their harmful agenda. And if you've been watching this show, you already know exactly what they want to do. Some Republicans are supporting Republican buddy Carter's so-called fair tax bill, which would eliminate the IRS and all federal income taxes in lieu of a national 30% sales tax, which their corporate donors would love, I'm sure. And that's just one idea, one of the horrible things that they want to do. But it seems like the idea that's gained the most traction is cuts to Social Security and they're trying to exploit the debt ceiling showdown to get what they want. And these Republican thieves want to take money from you, had the support of at least one Democrat. Now, before I tell you who, just take a wild guess as to who that is. As Kenny Stansel of Common Dreams explains, during a Wednesday interview with Fox Business at the ruling class's annual gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Manchin suggested that members of both major U.S. political parties, quote, worked together on solving the nation's so-called debt problem. No, thanks. Although Manchin didn't explicitly demand cuts to Social Security and expressed opposition to GOP calls for privatization, he singled out the program for intervention, saying that Congress should be able to solidify it. Stansel continues, what's especially concerning to progressives is that the corporate backed lawmaker is the co-author alongside Senator Mitt Romney of the Trust Act, a bill that would enable Congress to create bipartisan rescue committees for the nation's trust fund programs, including Social Security and Medicare and give the panels 180 days to develop legislation that restores solvency and otherwise improves each measures put forth by the bipartisan committees would be fast tracked for four votes in both chambers of Congress with no amendments allowed. Yeah, it's going to be a hard pass for me on that. Now, the legislation that Manchin is pushing is modeled after the notorious Simpson-Bowles Commission and Senator Bernie Sanders took to Twitter to explain what happened the last time one of these commissions was proposed. So quote, the last thing we need is another commission to propose cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The last time we had one, it proposed cutting Social Security benefits for middle class seniors by up to 35 percent and cutting tax rates for billionaires. We must instead expand Social Security. Now, let's be very clear here, Manchin knows exactly what he's doing here, but it's not the only proposed change to Social Security aside from straight up cuts. Senator Ron Johnson, for example, has proposed shifting Social Security from part of our mandatory budget to our discretionary budget. So that way, Congress has to approve the amount spent on it from year to year. There's also been suggestions from Republicans like Rick Allen to raise the retirement age, which is nothing more than a thinly veiled cut. Some have just outright admitted that they support cuts to Social Security in order to, quote, balance the budget. But let me be very clear here, Social Security legally cannot contribute to the federal deficit. So whatever excuse that they use, understand it's bullshit. Now, the most nefarious way that Republicans try to sell these cuts to voters is under the pretense of a concern for the program's long term solvency, meaning that they'll have to suggest some type of change. It's necessary. They have to do something in order to keep Social Security fully funded because they care. But I think it's evident by now that they don't care. They're literally just concerned for holding. And fortunately, voters aren't buying it. A data for progress poll conducted in September of 2022 found that voters overwhelmingly reject Ron Johnson's idea to renew funding for Social Security annually. Also, they'd rather pay more into Social Security as opposed to having their benefits reduced. And finally, 90 percent of all voters want the program to exist 10 years from now. Now, do you think these Republicans are dumb? I mean, many of them are dumb. But do you think that they don't know that? I should phrase it that way. They know Republicans know this, which is why they're constantly trying to disguise cuts to Social Security as necessary reforms in order to extend the program's solvency. And it's why they also have to utilize debt ceiling showdowns to rush through changes that they know would be unpopular. But in an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Bernie Sanders explained that there's something these Republicans can do if they wanted to prove to these constituents that they really do care about the longevity of Social Security and they don't just want to cut it. Is that not saying up nice worrying about the solvency of Social Security? If they were, they would do exactly as supporting the legislation that I've introduced. And again, right now you make $10 million a year. I make $140,000 a year. We both pay the same amount of money into Social Security because there's a cap on what can be paid. Lift that cap. We can expand, we can protect the solvency of Social Security for 50 years and expand benefits, which is what I want to do. That's not their thing. Look, their thing is they are anti-government. They believe that corporate large corporations should run the world. It's not just Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It's public education. It's transportation. You name the issue. They want to move toward privatization. That is the agenda of many of them, give power to large corporations, weaken the ability of the American people to determine their own future. And he's exactly correct. That's neoliberalism in a nutshell, though. The outsourcing of government responsibilities to private corporations who can profit off of what should be services designed to benefit the public good. Now, the good news is that Bernie Sanders possibly got mansion to acquiesce because after Bernie Sanders put him on blast with that tweet we just read, well, he changed his tune. HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic explains mansion on CNN says there should be no cuts to those now getting Social Security and Medicare and rejects the idea of raising the Social Security retirement age. He instead suggests raising the taxable wage cap for employees paying into the program. Bobic continues the taxable wage cap just jumped up to one hundred sixty thousand two hundred dollars up from one hundred forty seven thousand dollars for twenty twenty two on January 1st. Manchin said on CNN he believed it was one hundred fifty to one hundred fifty five thousand dollars in West Virginia. They're paying one hundred percent of that tax in wealthier areas. They're paying very small percentage of that tax. Now, even though Manchin cannot be trusted, he's correct here. Warren Gunnals, the majority staff director for Bernie Sanders explains if Bernie Sanders Social Security bill was signed into law last year, Elon Musk would have paid two point nine billion dollars more in taxes. No one making more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars or less would have paid a penny more in taxes. Benefits would have gone up by twenty four hundred dollars a year. And Social Security would be solvent for seventy five years. Exactly. Now, to be fair, Manchin didn't necessarily rule out this policy in the first place, but when you advocate for a bipartisan compromise, when Republicans are explicitly calling for cuts to Social Security, it's kind of hard to fathom that a neoliberal corporatist like Manchin would even be entertaining Bernie Sanders proposal. But here we are. He got backlash. Bernie Sanders called him out. And we have, if not a reversal, at least a clarification at a minimum. Now, I can't say with certainty that Bernie Sanders got Manchin to buckle specifically, but what I can say is that Bernie Sanders has consistently been a thorn in the side of any politician which tried to cut Social Security in either party, for example, back in 2012, when Obama betrayed voters by endorsing cuts to Social Security by changing how the cost of living adjustments were made, there was fierce opposition from grassroots activists. But also there was a small group of senators who were vehemently opposed to Obama's proposal and the individual who led the charge was none other than Senator Bernie Sanders. Let's listen. In 2008, he said that he would not cut Social Security. We want the president to remember what he said and not go back on his word. And once again, Bernie Sanders is doing everything he can to name and shame any politician who's aligning with Republicans to betray the American people. Now, I should also note that this entire debt ceiling crisis is a choice. The bar on cap is a dumb, made up thing that doesn't even need to exist. But it is a useful tool for politicians to create this sense of urgency. So politicians in both parties, to be fair, can rush through bills that would be extremely unpopular. And I should clarify that they know that these bills would be extremely unpopular, but this whole debt ceiling showdown is a pretty useful excuse. I mean, they could just say I had to support this terrible policy in order to avoid a recession. Oh, my God, my hands were tied. I was so stressed out, but Congress can literally just abolish the debt ceiling and never have to have this conversation again. But this is America and that would make too much sense. But either way, it's good to know that there's at least one politician who will go to bat for the American people on this issue. Social Security is a lifeline to Americans and it's our money. We paid into this program and we do not consent to any politician from either party stealing from us, period.