So a senator put forward a controversial plan that “requires every program to be looked at freshly at least once every four years.” The goal is an “examination” of “not just of the increased cost of the program, but of the worthiness of the entire program.” If judged unworthy, the program would be cut.

That senator was Joe Biden and the year was 1975.

It wasn’t just a one-off, either. Fast-forward to the 1990s, and Biden did it again, clarifying: “I meant Social Security, as well. I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits.” He was comprehensive and persistent. “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.”

Biden is counting on his Leftmedia lickspittles to refrain from committing actual journalism and to make sure no one knows such history after the spectacle of his State of the Union Address Tuesday. In that speech, solely to scare seniors, he falsely accused Republicans of putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block.

“Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” Biden asserted. As Republicans loudly objected, Biden continued: “I’m not saying it’s a majority. Anybody who doubts it, contact my office, I’ll give you a copy. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”

The proposal he was referencing was one by Senator Rick Scott, which he reiterated after the SOTU: “All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.” So five years is unconscionable, but Biden’s four-year sunset is responsible. Got it.

“This is clearly and obviously an idea aimed at dealing with all the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late,” Scott argued. “I’ve never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would.”

Other Republicans, including the leadership, have said Social Security and Medicare would not be part of such sunsetting, even if they agreed to push forward with Scott’s plan.

Nevertheless, Biden stuck to his lies, eventually smugly boasting of “conversions” among irritated Republicans. He got them to stand and clap for the idea that Social Security and Medicare are off the table. “Joe Biden was so deft. He let them walk into his trap. He rope-a-doped them,” chortled Chuck Schumer. “And now all of America has seen the Republican Party say, ‘No, we’re not going to cut Social Security and Medicare.’ He did a service.”

Biden added, “If anyone tries to cut Social Security [and Medicare], I will stop them.”

It’s certainly understandable to promise not to do anything to these massive earned entitlement programs. Biden is right: “Americans have been paying into them with every single paycheck since they started working.” And we’ve all been told we’re paying into the system to have access to it when we retire. Millions of current retirees depend on these programs. It’s also easy — if utterly disingenuous — to accuse anyone seeking reform of wanting to “take” money from seniors.

But are these programs sustainable as currently constructed?

Let’s ask the Biden administration. The Medicare trustees report that the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2028. Insolvency isn’t a new problem, of course. Way back in 2011, Barack Obama noted, “If you look at the numbers, then Medicare in particular will run out of money, and we will not be able to sustain that program no matter how much taxes go up.”

Today’s Democrats want to put everyone on Medicare.

Meanwhile, by 2034, Social Security will be able to make payments on only 80% of promised benefits. One might call that insolvency. And it’s a problem that actually might manifest even sooner given the recent raise for recipients to offset Bidenflation. Leftmedia talkingheads, however, stubbornly deny such facts.

“Let’s all agree to stand up for seniors,” Biden proclaimed Tuesday. Yeah, well, what about the rest of us?

Since Social Security became law, life expectancy has increased from 63 to 77, while the age of retirement moved only from 65 to 67. That means we’re now living off of Social Security for far longer.

In 1950, there were more than 16 workers to every retiree, so the Ponzi scheme worked pretty well. Today, there are less than three workers to every retiree, and by 2030 it will be down to two. As The Heritage Foundation notes, “Every dollar [workers] pay into Social Security goes immediately out the door to fund current benefits, never getting a chance to earn a positive rate of return.”

Speaking of that rate of return, it’s pathetic. Democrats had a field day caterwauling over George W. Bush’s proposal to allow people to invest their Social Security taxes in the private market, as if somehow the government would be irresponsibly gambling away your money.

The truth is that “the average worker would have three times more retirement income if they were able to keep and invest their Social Security taxes,” reports Heritage. “Even the lowest-income workers would have 40% more retirement income.”

In other words, the government already is irresponsibly gambling away your money.

Biden’s “solution” is to not touch it. To be fair, that was Donald Trump’s plan, too. But that’s not sustainable.

On a final note about debt, Biden hit Trump for running up the national debt, but he didn’t mention what the Washington Post’s “fact-checker” was left to clean up with a rare offering of facts: “A large part of that was debt accumulated to help fund Medicare and Social Security as the baby boom generation began retiring — automatic spending over which Trump had no control.”

USA Today’s “fact-checker” likewise took on the Left’s lies about Social Security. It “has run an annual deficit since 2010,” and it “contributes to the federal deficit and national debt.” Understatement of the century. Major entitlements are the biggest driver of the debt Biden professes to care about so much.

Unless and until politicians in Washington are willing to deal with insolvency honestly, Social Security and Medicare are headed for disaster. Some of us who are still working for a living while paying taxes redistributed to current retirees with nothing left for us certainly know who to blame. Unfortunately, thanks to lying politicians and a derelict media, most Americans remain blissfully ignorant or ambivalent.