Republicans will try to use extortion to cut Medicare and Social Security if they take over the House
By 
Just ask them:
Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats.
The four Republicans interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress said in interviews that next year’s deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is a point of leverage if their party can win control of the House in the November midterm elections.
The Republican position — which members are still formulating — could set the stage for an explosive standoff next year, reminiscent of the 2011 negotiations when the Tea Party wave of Republicans took on the Obama administration over spending.
It’s also possible Republicans will demand process-focused legislation — such as requiring a reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio — that could subsequently put major entitlement programs in play.
If Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt limit by the deadline, the federal government would default on payments officials had already agreed to make. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned during 2021 negotiations that a default would be “a catastrophe” and could cause a financial crisis.
Biden needs to be prepared for this, and the message has to be very consistently “We do not support Republican cuts to Medicare or Social Security, period,” no negotiation. He presumably understands that the Republican strategy will be to blame Biden for the cuts they want and needs to act accordingly. And Democratic candidates need to ignore bad faith fact chuckers and be very clear that a vote for Republicans in 2022 is a vote to slash Medicare and Social Security.
Congress should obviously increase the debt limit to infinity after the midterms, although I don’t have a lot of optimism that they’ll do the right thing here thanks to Manchinema.