The Omnibus bill would continue without SS, It's too valuable as a political tool (weapon) for them to give it up. They would find a way to fund it,...at our expense, of course.
The tales of gumint spending and misspending have been around forever. Studies on the sex life of Guatemala tree frogs and the like. But for each of these expenditures, that seem preposterous to many, somebody out there thinks they're a good idea. Some people think Malthorpe (sp?) is an artist. Some people want to know more about green turtles or purple mushrooms.
There was plenty on anecdotal evidence and some legitimate reasearch on the welfare trap in the ghettos of America. Single or abandoned (sometimes dad was incarcerated) moms with a passel of kids and no skills, collecting a welfare check every month, with no way out. Their kids drop out or graduate illiterate and the only way to survive is squirt out some kids, preferably without getting married, to get on the dole.
The taxpayers resented these people collecting and the collectors resented not having decent jobs. The system perpetuated itself as more kids meant more money and more people, growing up to collect. The establishment has been accused of using welfare to oppress minorities and keep them in poverty and in the ghetto. The welfare reform laws were aimed at breaking this endless cycle of poverty but I don't know if it's really been any help.
Anyway, that's the origins of the lazy bums collecting welfare checks instead of working and all driving Cadillacs, is partly because of the '70's oil embargo when everybody dumped their gas hogs for Jap cars and Caddys were one of the things you could get cheap. A rather myopic view of the welfare system.
In 1970 I hade just split up with my wife and was paying lawyers when Westinghouse went out on strike. I was salaried, but laid off for the duration. Westinghouse held up our unemployment for six weeks and I was flat broke, so I collected two $58 checks and some food stamps from welfare, to hold me over until unemployment kicked in. As soon as I was back at work, welfare called me to ask if I could please pay back the money, at $5 per month. Since I was making about $200 a week, I told them I'd pay $10 a month, and they sent me a coupon book. I would send a coupon with a check to Philadelphia and in 2 weeks I would get a written receipt from Harrisburg, in the mail. It probably cost the state $100 or more, for each $10 I repaid. That's one of the problems with the system and the gumint, inefficiency.
That's a suburban WASP's view of the welfare system, but I'd love to hear from someone with a more intimate knowledge.