Kevin Coughlin “Committed” to Cutting Social Security

New reporting from the Ohio Capital Journal highlights how Kevin Coughlin's extremist plan to pursue entitlement reform includes gutting Social Security for Northeast Ohioans.

According to Coughlin:

"I know the Democrats are cheering right now that they're hearing me say that […] but it's going to mean that the benefits that people get are going to be cut."

Coughlin has long advocated for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, including "converting Medicare into a voucher program for anyone under 55," raising the "eligibility age to 67," and capping "spending in such a way that cuts to Medicare and Social Security would […] be unavoidable."

DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
"Kevin Coughlin has been perfectly clear on the campaign trail that he would gut the retirement programs millions of Ohioans rely on. He can't be trusted with Social Security and Medicare and Northeast Ohioans will reject his dangerous agenda in the fall."

Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio's Republican candidates are floating Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid reforms
Nick Evans | May 2, 2024

• During the primary campaign, Kevin Coughlin - now the Republican nominee for Ohio's 13th Congressional District - committed to pursuing entitlement reform if he's elected.

• He specifically referenced Social Security and Medicaid, which provides health care for people with lower incomes. But Medicare, which provides health care for seniors and some people with disabilities, is typically included in debates about entitlement reform.

• "(They're) going to go broke very, very quickly, which isn't going to mean that (programs are) going to go away, but it's going to mean that the benefits that people get are going to be cut," Coughlin argued.

• Coughlin's argument is right in line with decades of Republican doctrine, but maybe not the party's current standard bearer.

• "I made a promise that I will always keep Social Security, Medicare-we always will keep it, we won't be cutting it," former President Donald Trump told Dayton rallygoers last March.

• Despite insisting from his earliest days as a presidential candidate that he would "save" the big three entitlement programs "without cuts," last month in a CNBC interview Trump said "there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting." He hinted at cuts in 2020 as well.

• Those changes include converting Medicare into a voucher program for anyone under 55 at the time. The proposal would also steadily raise the eligibility age to 67 - a position which Coughlin now opposes. Coughlin also pledged support for a balanced budget proposal that would cap spending in such a way that cuts to Medicare and Social Security would likely be unavoidable.

• Trump has also used waste fraud and abuse as a fig leaf after backlash to his public comments. But while independent experts contend waste and fraud are significant problems in Medicaid and Medicare, they question whether there's enough to balance the books. For Social Security, they insist eliminating waste and fraud would do little to close the gap. In a different version of that math problem, they note there are simply too many retirees and not enough workers.

• And Coughlin is not alone in raising the idea of entitlement reform.

• While Coughlin emphasizes waste fraud and abuse, incumbent lawmakers have floated plans to roll back entitlements more broadly in recent years. They've just failed to gain traction.

• Recall President Joe Biden needling Republicans during the 2023 State of the Union over plans to make Medicare and Social Security sunset. Despite some Republicans' jeers, that idea came from a platform advanced by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-FL. He's since revised the proposal to exempt the programs.

• More recently, the Republican Study Committee unveiled it's 2024 budget plan which proposes raising the eligibility age for Social Security without specifying what age is appropriate, and converting Medicare to a voucher system. Eight members of Ohio's Congressional delegation are part of the committee.

• "There are communities in southeast Ohio that I've looked into that have as much as 70-80% of the medical income they have is coming from those programs." Similarly, [Jack Frech, the retired director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services,] noted transfer payments make up as much as a quarter of local income in some southeast Ohio counties.

• "These are real people who are already struggling," Frech said, "and you're basically saying we're going to solve our financial problem by taking services away from them."

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