'That Is A Bit Absurd': Sanders Calls To Raise Cap On Social Security Contributions Above $184,500

[Uncle Joe]

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called to raise the cap on Social Security contributions.

[Omaha Steve]

1. Go Bernie

Fighting the good fight! K&R!

[QueerDuck]

2. It's an excellent policy, which is why Democrats have been championing it for decades.

Lifting the payroll tax cap (or eliminating it entirely) is the absolute best way to ensure long-term Social Security solvency, but it's important to remember this is a long-standing, mainstream Democratic platform staple—not a recent invention.

Mainstream Democrats have been introducing legislation to raise or scrap the cap for generations to protect seniors. It was a prominent feature of Joe Biden's presidential campaign platform, and the push has been continuously led by mainstream congressional Democrats for decades.

It is great that Senator Sanders is using his platform at the Senate Finance Committee to highlight this, but treating it as a uniquely fringe or revolutionary idea ignores the relentless, institutional work that the Democratic Party has done on this exact issue for over twenty years. We don't need to reinvent the wheel; we just need to elect enough mainstream Democrats to finally pass the platform we've been fighting for all along.

[Uncle Joe]

3. I couldn't agree more, there is nothing fringe about it. Just basic common sense, logic, and morality.

The fact that some would treat this as "extremist or radical" speaks more of them, and their values than of the policy's political champions consistently beating the drum.

[FakeNoose]

4. Yes Bernie, please talk them into some kind of sense on this

The cap should be around $200K ...

[bsiebs]

5. That would be an improvement...

… but I think we should just eliminate the cap completely…

[paleotn]

6. Reagan and Tip O'Neill did exactly that.

And congratulated each other for doing it because it was the right thing to do. Time to do it again. In fact, it's time to link the cap to inflation so it adjusts annually, and we don't have to re-fight this fight 40 years from now. In 1983, it had huge bipartisan support.