MITCH MCCONNELL CALLS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, MEDICAID CUTS AFTER PASSING TAX CUTS, MASSIVE DEFENSE SPENDING

This is the face of late stage toxic corporate capitalism and late stage addiction to greed and power. This is the oligarchs propagandizing us with toxic lies while continuing their toxic agenda which is to rob 99% of us to feed the American war machine and further enrich the very wealthy. The great lie is that any of this is necessary and that they are not responsible for this atrocity. We must demand the radical changes that are needed to transform our nation and world to one which values, respects, and cares for life. We must say NO! to this outrageous assault on the well-being of us all. — Molly

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks as President Donald Trump looks on during a 'Make America Great Again' rally at Eastern Kentucky University, in Richmond, Kentucky, on October 13. The deficit has increased 77 percent since McConnell became majority leader in 2015.

 By NICOLE GOODKIND

After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem," McConnell said of the deficit, which grew 17 percent to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018. McConnell explained to Bloomberg that "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." The deficit has increased 77 percent since McConnell became majority leader in 2015.

New Treasury Department analysis on Monday revealed that corporate tax cuts had a significant impact on the deficit this year. Federal revenue rose by 0.04 percent in 2018, a nearly 100 percent decrease on last year’s 1.5 percent. In fiscal year 2018, tax receipts on corporate income fell to $205 billion from $297 billion in 2017.

Still, McConnell insisted that the change had nothing to do with a lack of revenue or increased spending and instead was due to entitlement and welfare programs. The debt, he said, was very “disturbing” and driven by “the three big entitlement programs that are very popular, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.… There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs. Hopefully, at some point here, we’ll get serious about this.”

President Donald Trump promised to leave Medicare untouched on the campaign trail, but Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and Florida Senator Marco Rubio have long indicated their desire to cut entitlement programs to pay for their tax cuts.

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