McCaskill, Democrats return to old theme: GOP threatens Social Security

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

Oct. 18--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Claire McCaskill this week spent less than $500 on campaign funds to reach tens of thousands of Facebook viewers with a message that could impact the final days of Missouri's Senate race.

It's a tried-and-true Democratic message: That Republicans are coming after your Social Security and Medicare.

Democrats have used this tactic to effective results in past campaign, in particular, in 1986 and then again in 2006, when they flipped control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans. McCaskill was first elected in 2006 after she attacked Republican incumbent Jim Talent for belonging to a party that was talking about "privatizing" parts of Social Security as a long-term solution. Talent.

"Uh oh," McCaskill tweeted in the Facebook ad. "Like the sun coming up in the morning. Tax cuts for the wealthy... now Republicans planning cuts to Social Security and Medicare to cover the increasing deficit they caused. Not on my watch."

As of Thursday, the ad was seen by between 10,000 and 50,000 people, according to Facebook Metrics.

The genesis of that ad were remarks Tuesday by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who blamed ballooning federal deficits on an unwillingness by Democrats and Republicans to come up with a deal bending the growth curve of federal outlays on Social Security and Medicare.

"It's disappointing but it's not a Republican problem," McConnell told Bloomberg News when asked about the $779 billion deficit in President Donald Trump's first full fiscal year in office, up 17 percent from the previous year. "It's a bipartisan problem: Unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future."

McCaskill's opponent, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley, has said previously that, if elected, he would not necessarily support McConnell as Republican leader. But McConnell's Super PAC is on pace to spend more money attacking McCaskill and supporting Hawley in Missouri than Hawley will spend on his own campaign.

Hawley has cited federal spending as an area he may disagree with President Donald Trump, but has not linked Social Security and Medicare in that context.

McCaskill's point: That you can't lower taxes, as Trump and Republicans did and which McCaskill voted against, and increase defense spending (which she voted for) and not run huge deficits, unless you had designs on Social Security and Medicare all along.

The issue is also proliferating in House races in the region. In Metro East, Democratic challenger Brendan Harris this week cited McConnell's statements to attack Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, Ill.

Democrats are blaming Republican tax cuts for the rising deficits; Republicans say that the tax cuts are a major reason why the stock and job markets have improved, and why people have more optimism about their economic circumstances.

Congress has for years punted the long-term viability of Social Security and Medicaid down the road, even as Baby Boomers retire and put more stress on the system.

It's not ben solved because Democrats claim that almost any fiscal move by Republicans -- from tax cuts to defense-spending increases -- is a backdoor attack on so-called entitlements, adn they're against that. But many, including McCaskill, also vote for rising spending in other areas of the government.

Republicans say Democrats never want to compromise on forging a bipartisan solution because they know it's a powerful campaign issue for them.

Republicans also have a "careful-what-you-vote for" message this cycle. They're trying to energize President Donald Trump's supporters by pointing to many Democratic members' of Congress's claims that they will launch investigations of Trump and his administration if they take control of the House or Senate, or both, on Nov. 6.

That was central to Hawley's "Stop Schumer" tour around Missouri this month. Implicit in the message is that if Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer's party wins control of the Senate, that much of what Trump's voters like about the administration would be threatened.

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