At a Capitol Hill press briefing on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Cantor whether House Republicans will pass a budget that balances sometime in the next 10 years. In response, Cantor said the budget could not be balanced in the next decade without "severely impacting" seniors. “It is very difficult to balance the budget within 10 years without cutting seniors' benefits now,” said Cantor. “And as I said before, our vision of entitlement reform will protect today’s seniors and those nearing retirement. As I am told, you cannot balance this budget in 10 years without severely impacting the benefits that current seniors and retirees are getting now.” “So the answer to your question is our budget will balance in the future while we work to protect today’s seniors and those nearing retirement, and actually move towards reforming the programs for those 54 and younger,” he said. Earlier in the press conference Cantor said that changes in Social Security and Medicare benefits to those 55 and older are off the table when Republicans propose entitlement reform later this year. “We have said that those 55 and older will not see any change in their benefits,” said Cantor. “But for the rest of us, 54 and younger, we are going to have to come to grips with the reality that if we’re going to have these programs around and save them, they’re going to have to look a lot different for the younger people in this country.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) sends out a press release clearly implying that Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor wants to cut benefits for current seniors:
SCHUMER: CANTOR “FLAT OUT WRONG” FOR WANTING TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
Washington, D.C. –U.S.Senator Charles E. Schumer issued the following statement today in response to Majority Leader Cantor’s statement that “It is very difficult to balance the budget in the next 10 years without cutting seniors’ benefits now”:
“Rep. Cantor's claim that we need to cut seniors’ Social Security checks today to balance the budget is flat-out wrong. Blaming Social Security for our deficit is nothing but an ideological attempt to slash benefits and privatize the program.”