Update (9:23AM PT): HuffPost's Sam Stein
gets confirmation of the WSJ's report from administration officials: Social Security cuts will not be part of President Obama's proposal. It remains to be seen whether raising the Medicare eligibility age will also be taken off the table.
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Wall Street Journal:
President Barack Obama's new deficit-reduction proposal will leave out changes to Social Security, and may exclude any increase in the Medicare eligibility age, people familiar with the discussions said Wednesday. [...] Instead of raising the Medicare eligibility age, the White House is considering recommending cuts to providers and possibly increasing premiums for wealthier recipients, people familiar with the discussions say. It's also possible the president would propose changing the inflation calculation for other government programs, which currently use the same measure as Social Security does. The White House declined to comment on those discussions.
It sounds like the source for these claims isn't part of the administration, and given that the source insisted on anonymity, I wouldn't say this is a definitive report, but if it's true, it is a positive development.
It is troubling, however, that President Obama is still considering raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. Not only would that be a political catastrophe of monumental proportions, it wouldn't actually reduce spending on health care, government or otherwise. Keeping Social Security off the table wouldn't make up for a decision as boneheaded as proposing a hike in the Medicare eligibility age.
According to the same report, the administration doesn't want to let the deficit discussion overshadow the jobs debate:
Mr. Obama will continue to press for Congress to quickly pass his jobs plan, which includes new government spending and tax cuts. He also will make a quieter case for long-term deficit reduction, arguing that the two sets of proposals are not mutually exclusive.
The Social Security and Medicare provisions that Mr. Obama was willing to agree to with Mr. Boehner drew criticism from members of Mr. Obama's own party, who oppose the policies. White House officials worry that including them in his plan now could overshadow the president's focus on jobs.
They are right to be worried. If the administration proposes raising the Medicare eligibility age, the debate over jobs will fade to a distant memory, and we'll be right back where we were over the summer with a huge battle over deficit reduction—and nothing good to show for it.
As yesterday's CNN poll made clear, the vast majority of Americans want Washington to focus on jobs, not deficits. President Obama needs to keep on doing everything in his power to make sure that's exactly what happens.