"This Congress will be making a grave mistake -- a grave mistake -- and reinforcing a dangerous precedent," Harkin said in a dramatic Senate floor speech late Thursday. "And I’m dismayed that Democrats, including a Democratic president and a Democratic vice president, have proposed this, and are willing to sign off on a deal that could begin the unraveling of Social Security."
Harkin argued that Social Security had always been strong and protected because it was funded by its own dedicated tax stream that ensured every American would be guaranteed a basic income in their retirements, and that the program added not "even one dime to the deficits or the national debt."
But he said now that Congress was going to pay for this cut with borrowed money from the general treasury funds, the best argument of the program's defenders was gone.
"With this bill, we can no longer say that. We can no longer say that Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit," Harkin said.
He argued that a far better plan would have been to simply grant working Americans rebates on their income taxes, the way Presidents Obama and George W. Bush had done in recent years.
Yep. Or send checks. Everybody loves getting a check.
Harkin's right on this. And I have to say that I cannot see the path to raising this tax again. If anyone's counting on the Republicans sticking with their current position, they're cracked. They'll be screaming "tax hike" the first time anyone tries to let it happen. And assuming that Obama wins the election, with the Bush tax cuts expiring we are already going to have a battle royale over raising taxes. What's going to give?