This is an opinion column.

If politicians aren’t willing to discuss changes to Social Security, they plan to cut Social Security. That’s not merely my opinion; it’s an actuarial reality straight from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees. President Joe Biden knows Social Security needs changes. Instead of addressing the problem, he’s running a dishonest smear campaign against Republicans.

Let’s start with an uncomfortable reality. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays Social Security retirement and survivors benefits, “will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2034.” At that point, the checks so many American retirees depend upon will decrease by 23 percent.

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Politicians proclaiming their intent to maintain the Social Security status quo are, quite literally, advocating for a radical cut to beneficiaries in a relatively short time frame. Few politicians are willing to communicate this reality to Americans because they’d actually have to do something about it. Any modifications to such a massive federal entitlement program quickly become characterized as “cuts.”

When retirees believe their Social Security income is under threat, they’ll vote for just about anyone who ensures their benefits won’t be touched. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have made serious efforts to address the uncomfortable fiscal realities facing Social Security. That doesn’t stop Democrats, in particular, from using the issue as a political weapon.

“I know that a lot of Republicans – their dream is to cut social security and Medicare,” Biden said during recent remarks at University of Tampa. “If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.”

Republicans don’t fantasize about cutting Social Security benefits and Medicare. In fact, most Republicans in Congress don’t have the political courage to reform Social Security and preserve it for future generations. Every member of Congress understands the political consequences connected to federal entitlements.

For example, Biden has been using a 2010 video clip of Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) running for office saying, “It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it.” In most instances, Biden and Democrats omit the age of the clip and Lee also saying at the same 2010 event that current Medicare beneficiaries should have their benefits “left untouched” and that “the next layer beneath them, those who will retire in the next few years, also probably have to be held harmless.”

Senator Ron Johnson told a Green Bay radio show in August: “We’ve got to turn everything into discretionary spending, so it’s all evaluated, so that we can fix problems or fix programs that are broken, that are going to be going bankrupt. Because, again, as long as things are on automatic pilot, we just continue to pile up debt.”

Johnson’s remarks aren’t a cut either unless Congress refuses to reauthorize the program. Social Security is in the mess it’s in because Congress hasn’t been forced to regularly face financial realities and update the law.

Sen. Rick Scott has put forth a fiscal reform plan requiring federal legislation to sunset every five years. Democrats and Republicans such as Mitch McConnell have panned the idea, but, again, Congress could simply reauthorize Social Security without changing it a bit. Democrats know Republicans don’t have anything close to a consensus within their own party about modifying Social Security. When Republicans had both houses of Congress and the White House, Social Security didn’t vanish.

The grand irony is that Biden, across multiple congresses, championed a plan strikingly similar to Scott’s. As a senator in 1975, Biden introduced legislation requiring all federal programs to sunset after four years.

Later in his career when Biden ran similar legislation, he clarified his intent to include entitlements. ”When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security, as well,” Biden said. “I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits.” If that wasn’t clear enough, he offered further specificity. “I meant every single solitary thing in the federal government,” he said. “And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.”

Pressured about Biden’s glaring hypocrisy, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed Biden’s prior legislative work as “a bill from the 1970s” which is “not part of the president’s agenda.”

Apparently, Biden is indeed his own worst nightmare.

1975 Biden and 2023 Scott are both correct from a policy standpoint. Social Security’s fiscal challenges don’t care about our politics. We should absolutely expect Congress take up entitlement programs, shore them up, and make changes to preserve the social safety net.

Take a change that might make sense but isn’t an easy partisan football. Congress could means test Social Security to extend the program’s fiscal runway. Let’s say anyone who has more than $1 million in assets isn’t eligible for Social Security benefits no matter how much they paid into the system.

Democrats should love that. It’s essentially a tax on millionaires. It’s also good for Social Security’s financial health, and it treats the programs more like conventional insurance than a retirement account.

Anyone who agrees with the idea is now “cutting” Social Security. The measure might impact a relatively small group of Americans, but it would be a massive entitlement cut for them. That group has paid into the system for years and would get nothing in exchange.

This is how the political “cuts to Social Security” game gains momentum.

Americans are living longer. Raising the retirement age proportionally makes rational sense. Again, that’s a “cut” for Americans who expected to receive benefits at an earlier age.

In fact, any change to Social Security where even one beneficiary receives even a dime less is a potential political weapon. The result is frozen American entitlement programs ensuring some retirees in the not too distant future shoulder the brunt of congressional irresponsibly.

Preserving social safety nets like Social Security and Medicare is sound policy. The current versions are not and will not be viable indefinitely. Democrats and Republicans know this, but most Americans do not. A few Republicans are putting ideas on the table to force Congress to stop whistling past Social Security’s fiscal graveyard. As a result, Biden and Democrats are painting all Republicans as entitlement cutting maniacs.

Don’t buy it for a minute.

We can either play politics with Social Security, or we can do the work to fix it. Biden has already made his decision. Hopefully Republicans choose to protect America’s social safety nets and avoid the coming chaotic cuts.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He engages media, business, and policy through the Triptych Foundation and Triptych Media. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on Twitter.