Democrats hide when asked about ending high-income loophole to assure Social Security’s future

Few open supporters beyond the 10 co-sponsors

Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) told Remapping Debate that “I am in favor of using the changing of the cap to help deal with the long-term solvency of Social Security; I think it’s a fair way to do it.” The office of Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) also indicated in an email that the Senator has supported the idea that those with income above $250,000 pay into the system through the payroll tax.  

Additionally, in an email, the office of Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) provided a statement that “Sen. Brown is strongly opposed to handing Social Security over to Wall Street or raising the retirement age or cutting benefit levels for seniors who have contributed to Social Security throughout their working years.”

“Instead,” the statement continued, “he believes that we can improve the solvency of Social Security by asking the wealthiest Americans to contribute to the program the same share of their income as the middle class.”

The office of Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent us a February interview during which Warner had supported raising the cap on Social Security (and also favored a phased increase in the retirement age). His press office confirmed by email that he supports both measures as a means of strengthening Social Security.

Dodging the question

An aide to Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) wrote that Kaine is “open” to raising the cap. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s (D-N.J.) office stated by email that Lautenberg is “considering” the “removal of the payroll tax exclusion for the highest-income earners.”

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) restated in an email reply her opposition to raising the retirement age or reducing cost-of-living adjustments to social security benefits, but did not answer the question we posed (“Does the Senator support any increase in the wages subject to payroll tax: in other words, any narrowing of the current exemption for all income above 114K?”).

In 2011, Sen. Mikulski was a co-sponsor of a bill Sen. Sander’s proposed to apply the payroll tax to income over $250,000. She did not co-sponsor his 2013 version of the bill. Remapping Debate emailed the Senator again after her initial reply, pointing out that our main question was whether the Senator wants to continue the payroll tax exclusion or if she supports raising or eliminating the cap, and asking if she had changed her view since co-sponsoring Sen. Sander’s 2011 bill. We received no answer.

Choosing not to comment

Four Senators explicitly declined through their press offices to answer our questions on the payroll tax cap.

Remapping Debate repeatedly called the press office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). When we were able to get through and speak with a press representative, the response was that the representative would check to see if the office had any comment and get back to us. After not hearing back, Remapping Debate emailed our questions to the press office. When we called to follow up, a press representative told us the Senator did not have any comment.

As with Warren, Remapping Debate reached out five times through phone and email to the press office of Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) before receiving an email saying, “I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to participate in this story, but thanks for reaching out to us.” We followed up by asking if an extended deadline would make it possible for them to participate and received no response.

The press secretary of Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) originally responded to Remapping Debate’s email request for an interview to say that the Senator was fully booked. We then asked if we could speak with a spokesperson instead or email our questions and received no response. We followed up with a voicemail and an emailed list of questions. We subsequently tried to reach out to the deputy communications director by leaving her a voicemail and emailing our list of questions. We received an email back asking if our deadline was close-of-business that day. We replied that we could accommodate a response on the following day. The deputy communications director wrote back to say she would see what she could do, after which she wrote that the office declined to respond.

While the press office of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) originally said it might be able to schedule an interview, after we sent our list of questions, an email reply from Landrieu’s office informed us that “unfortunately” they would not be able to set up an interview. We responded to ask if it would be possible to get written answers to our questions and then followed up with an extended deadline. We also left two messages with the office. No one got back to us.

Too Busy?

Some press offices claimed that the Senator for whom they worked was too busy to speak. When Remapping Debate reached out to the press office of Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), for example, we were told that the Senator didn’t have any time, but if anything opened up, the press office would get back to us. When we followed up, we received an email that the Senator was voting all day and then spending the next two weeks in North Dakota. We replied to ask if it would be possible to get written responses to an emailed list of questions and received no response. We then sent our list of questions and received no response. We followed up with an extended deadline, but to no avail.

Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) press office also made it clear that we were unlikely to get answers to our questions. Remapping Debate reached out to Schumer’s national press secretary a total of six times, but never heard back from him directly. Another staffer at the press office informed us that the message would be passed along, but that 99 percent of the time media requests are not answered due to high volume.

Unlike Schumer’s press secretary, Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) communications director did respond to our emailed list of questions by asking for the sources of our data. We replied by providing those sources, but received no response. We followed up over the phone, leaving two messages. The third time we called and were able to speak, the communications director said he would try to get something before our deadline, but wasn’t sure if it would be possible. We never heard back, despite following up the next day.

After leaving three voicemails and an email at Senator Tom Carper’s (D-Del.) press office, we received a reply that due to the busy week, neither the Senator nor the press office would be able to speak. Remapping Debate replied with an emailed list of questions to see if it was possible to get a written response. We sent another email with our extended deadline and left a voicemail, but received no response.

The offices of Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), Angus King (I-Maine), and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) also indicated that their respective Senators were too busy to respond.