Senate Republicans argued behind closed doors over a proposed bill that would increase Social Security benefits for people who are eligible for non-Social Security government pensions, with some party members wanting to stop the measure because of its cost.
"I think most of our members were alarmed that something so big" would have come to the Senate floor, an unidentified Republican senator told The Hill, adding that the lawmakers had held an "intense discussion."
Senate conservatives led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are calling for Social Security reforms, including raising the retirement age, as a way to repeal policies reducing public-sector workers' Social Security benefits.
The House passed its bipartisan bill, the Social Security Fairness Act, by a vote of 327-75 earlier this month. The Senate version of the bill is expected to come up for a vote Wednesday.
The Senate bill has 14 GOP co-sponsors, but Paul and other Republicans are arguing that it will speed up Social Security bankruptcy.
The legislation is sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and if passed will repeal the 1983 Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) enacted in 1977, which allows public-sector workers to receive full Social Security benefits.
WEP reduces Social Security benefits for workers getting pensions for employment not covered by Social Security and GPO reduces benefits for spouses, widows, and widowers of people who get government pensions.
The arguments against the bill center around draining the Social Security trust fund to beef up benefits for public-sector workers.
"It's got to be offset one way or another," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. "We have never in history, to my knowledge, unleashed such a massive bomb that would blow such a massive hole in the Social Security trust fund — $200 billion."
He said he understands there is a need to address inequities, but said he thinks "we're kidding ourselves and mistreating the American people if we blow a $200 billion hole in it and give no thought as to how to fix that."
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., added that conservatives hope the bill is sunk.
"It's way too broad," he said. "It provides benefits to people who aren't harmed by the fix from the 1970s… I would view it as grotesquely irresponsible."
GOP co-sponsors for the bill are Sens. Mike Braun, Indiana; Deb Fischer, Nebraska; Pete Ricketts, Nebraska; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma; John Boozman, Arkansas; Rick Scott, Florida; Jerry Moran, Kansas; John Kennedy, Louisiana, and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, Ohio.
Paul, meanwhile, is pushing for an amendment that would set the bill's hit on the Social Security fund, by raising the retirement age by steps to 70.
"Social Security is due to go bankrupt in 2034," Paul told The Hill. "This will speed it up by a year or so. It's $200 billion added to a program that is already short of money."
The amendment would raise the age of retirement gradually "about three months a year for the next 12 years," said Paul, adding that doing so would eventually raise the age to 70 when it would be linked to longevity and "pay for this expansion."
"I won't vote to support expanding [Social Security benefits] without paying for it," Paul said. "There are several other people opposed to this bill, too. So it may be that the others simply just want to delay it as long as possible in hopes that they will not be able to complete it this week."