Here's Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, this morning on CNN's American Morning.
LALI VELSHI, CNN: Congressman Van Hollen, thank you for joining us.
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.
VELSHI: Do you know anything about the reports the President is prepared to talk about Medicare and Social Security with the Republicans in exchange for their support to raise the debt ceiling?
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Ali, I do not know the details on this. I saw the reports and will hear a lot more from the President around eleven o’clock when he meets with bipartisan group at the White House. I do know that the President has been looking for a comprehensive deal that gets about $4 trillion in deficit reduction. That was along the lines of the proposal from the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles Commission. But with respect to the story that appeared this morning on Social Security I do not know what exactly the President is referring to. And I should be clear that Congressional Democrats are not going to support something that seeks to balance the budget on the backs of Social Security beneficiaries. What we have said is that if the President wants to adopt a separate track, just as Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan did in the 1980s, to strengthen Social Security, that’s one thing. But to try and balance the budget on the backs of Social Security beneficiaries would be unacceptable and I’m pretty confident that is not what the President is referring to.
VELSHI: Let's set the stage what here with what kinds of things could you, and Congressional Democrats, with respect to Social Security might support. If we support an increase in the age when you get Social Security for people who are younger at this point so it phases in over some time. Is that the kind of thing we could be talking about?
REP. VAN HOLLEN: I think that would meet with a lot of resistance for this reason. It's easy for people who make a living like you and I do; talking, to retire a little bit later. It’s a lot harder for someone who has been doing back-breaking work. What we could do—this is something part of the design of the existing system—you don't take away the option to retire early but if you do retire early you do get a lower benefit over a period of time. That is part of the design in the current system. You could build on that. There are other options that we have discussed, for example, lifting the cap on the payroll tax. That would bring in more revenue, so there are ways to strength Social Security. Obviously, an important issue—but don’t do that as way to balance the rest of the budget.
Van Hollen is rightly not putting the horse before the cart when there aren't full details of what exactly the White House is talking about when they say "Social Security is on the table." But, as Van Hollen well knows, since the GOP is highly unlikely to agree to raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap, benefit cuts are the only option for changes to the program that could realistically be under consideration. Getting House Democrats to essentially unilaterally disarm and give up the extremely potent issue of the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare, which any benefit cuts to Social Security would nullify, is going to be a tough haul if the White House is serious about having Social Security in the mix.