Republicans offer to deal with Obama on Medicare, Social Security

House Republicans negotiating with President Barack Obama on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff that’s looming at the start of the new year are proposing to increase the eligibility age for Medicare and to lower cost-of-living hikes in Social Security benefits. The proposal was announced today in response to Obama’s offer last week to hike taxes by $1.6 trillion over the coming decade but to exempt Medicare and Social Security from cuts to beneficiaries. The GOP plan, in contrast, proposes to raise $800 billion in new tax revenue over the decade, slice $600 billion from federal health programs, reduce the Social Security measure of inflation, and keep in place for now the President George W. Bush–era tax cuts for all—including the most wealthy earners, targeted in the Obama plan. House Speaker John Boehner says the GOP proposal is a “credible plan” for Obama and that he hopes the administration would “respond in a timely and responsible way.” Republicans and Obama are engaged in a game of political chicken as the clock ticks closer to the end-of-year deadline, when tax cuts expire and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts kick in—sending the nation over a proverbial “fiscal cliff” that some economists say could plunge the fragile economy back into recession.