‘Expansions’ to social security must come from the general budget.
Andrew G. Biggs 19, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, “We Do Not Need to Expand Social Security,” Yahoo! Entertainment, 12/5/19, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/not-expand-social-security-113049375.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAImaOW9koDzo9eknIW5J1rFO8JBVORenEwQvvrpbGMZMQEnAH7xveGZ8__xlTLOU-zevaVXLQC3VQxwFYDven7ZwQZXLJuP9r_w9xVzSbDIgtM7wB3rFEbqEMQLmomESGsUxTSansoNoE4qcGEcq1VRATqIZZ9SN2n6KOVFx-Bd8
But an ill-considered pledge to expand Social Security can lead to no good. Either Social Security is expanded, at great cost to the federal budget and a loss to other competing priorities such as health and education. Or the pledge is tossed aside once the election is past and Americans become even more cynical about the political process, pushing voters toward increasingly radical candidates in the future. Neither speaks well of how we undertake public policy the United States today.