A post shared on Facebook purports 156 House Republicans voted to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70.
Verdict: Misleading
While the Republican Study Committee proposed raising the retirement age to “reflect longevity” in its Fiscal Year 2023 budget plan, the plan was never brought to the House floor for a vote.
Fact Check:
Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy recently claimed President Joe Biden is “demagoguing” the issue of how to fund Social Security, according to The Guardian. Kennedy, who said the retirement age for social security should be raised, slammed the president’s $6.9 trillion budget proposal, further remarking the plan should be “in a shredder,” USA Today reported.
“LIST OF SHAME, These 156 Republicans signed on to a plan to slash Social Security,” the Facebook post purports. Among the representatives included in the supposed list are Republicans Paul Gosar (Arizona), Darrell Issa (California), Chip Roy (Texas), and Elise Stefanik (New York).
The claim is misleading. The remarks stems from a Feb. 13 tweet from Social Security Works, who shared the same list as the Facebook post. “It’s not just Rick Scott. 156 House Republicans released a plan to raise the retirement age to 70. RT if you don’t want to work till you die!” the tweet reads.
There are no credible news reports suggesting 156 House Republicans voted to raise the retirement age for Social Security to 70. Likewise, the claim is neither mentioned on the House Republicans’ website nor their verified social media accounts.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) proposed raising the retirement age to “reflect longevity” in its Fiscal Year 2023 budget plan. The budget plan would raise the retirement age by “three months per year until it is increased by three years for those reaching age 62 in 2040.”
Although the committee made this proposal via its budget plan, the measure has not been voted on, records from Congress.gov show. (RELATED: Did The NHS Remove The Word’ Woman’ From Their Website?)
“Former Speaker Pelosi never brought RSC’s FY 23 budget, which balances in just seven years, to the floor for a vote,” a spokesperson for the committee told Check Your Fact via email. “Pelosi never put forward a Democrat plan to make Medicare and Social Security solvent, either. Insolvency means drastic, mandatory cuts to all beneficiaries,” she said.
Furthermore, the committee’s budget plan shows it was signed by only 16 Republican representatives. People born in 1960 or later can collect their full Social Security benefits at age 67.