Udell Pushes Raising Social Security Wage Cap; Malloy Focuses on Protecting Current Beneficiaries

Social Security and federal debt surfaced in separate but related exchanges. Kent Udell argued the most direct fix is to raise the taxable wage cap for Social Security contributions: "1st thing you do is you raise the cap on Social Security... on wages for Social Security," he said.

Celeste Malloy said protecting current beneficiaries is paramount and pointed to tax changes she supported that reduced or eliminated taxes on Social Security income for many recipients. On the national debt, Udell blamed recent tax cuts and large bills that he said widened the deficit; Malloy described recent appropriations work and year-over-year discretionary spending reductions as evidence of fiscal attention.