House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Thursday that she would be willing to consider switching to a new inflation calculation, known as “chained CPI,” for various entitlement programs such as Social Security as part of a broader package designed to reduce the deficit.
“In terms of C.P.I., I have said let’s take a look at that,” she said at a weekly press briefing in Washington. “What is it — there are elements in our party, who have said that we can do this without hurting the poor and the very elderly. So let’s see what that is. There are others who are objecting to it plain and simple. I have to say if we can demonstrate that it doesn’t hurt the poor and the very elderly, then let’s take a look at it because compared to what? Compared to what? Compared to Republicans saying Medicare should wither on the vine? Social Security has no place in a free society? These are their words. These are their words.”
