Wall Street Journal

By NAFTALI BENDAVID

Congress's hot August recess has begun with rhetoric to match, with Democrats pummeling Republicans for wanting to trim Social Security, and Republicans hammering Democrats for favoring tax increases.

The warring political strategies might make good theater—one of a series of hot-button issues being debated this off-season—but they could box both sides into intractable positions ahead of a major debate about taxes, spending and the deficit.

A bipartisan deficit commission is set to issue recommendations Dec. 1, and the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at year's end. Many economists say any strategy for lowering the deficit would likely require some form of tax increases and a cut in benefits under entitlement programs such as Social Security, among other things.

"I just don't know how we're going to get to it," said former Sen. Warren Rudman (R., N.H.), co-chairman of the anti-deficit Concord Coalition. "I have the highest regard for the people on the [deficit] commission, and I know they will come up with a number of solutions. Whether they'll be politically palatable, I have my doubts."

Most, if not all, of the panel's recommendations would have to be approved by Congress to take effect. And a summer of pummeling each other over those issues—and touting themselves as guardians of their respective sacred cows—would only make passage more difficult. President Barack Obama jointed the fray over the weekend, trumpeting a commitment to safeguard Social Security "today, tomorrow and forever." Republicans are also stepping up rhetoric, calling for unspent stimulus money to be used for, among other things, paying down the deficit. (See related article on page A6.)

Leaders on each side who have violated party orthodoxy have been quickly rebuked. After House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) left the door open to raising the Social Security retirement age, he was sharply criticized by liberal activists.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) has signaled he could live with a 3-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases, only to be repudiated by the Club for Growth, a small-government lobby group. "Our basic response to Sen. Gregg would be that the federal government is not a little too big, it's a lot too big," said Mike Connolly, a Club for Growth spokesman.

Republicans are taunting Democrats, saying they are afraid to face voters' wrath and holding fewer town-hall meetings than they did last August, when protesters disrupted lawmakers' public sessions about the health-care plan. Democrats deny holding fewer meetings with voters.

Democrats, facing political headwinds, have calculated their best strategy is to argue that they, unlike Republicans, are on the side of ordinary Americans, highlighted by the creation of Social Security under Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Democratic lawmakers have been making a fuss over Social Security in a series of events that culminated with the program's 75th anniversary Aug. 14. The goal is to highlight Republican proposals to raise the retirement age, allow private accounts, or to take other actions Democrats say would threaten Americans' retirement security.

Democrats have seized on the small number of Republicans who have suggested phasing out Social Security, such as Senate candidate Sharron Angle in Nevada. Sen. Harry Reid's campaign has blasted her "extreme and dangerous agenda to kill Social Security." Ms. Angle says her goal is to "create personalized accounts for the next generation that cannot be raided." (Some GOP plans would let workers divert Social Security payments to private retirement accounts.)

Republicans have been equally fierce in attacking Democrats on the Bush tax cuts. Most Democrats say they favor renewing the cuts for everyone except families making more than $250,000 a year. Republicans warn that Democrats may let them all expire, resulting in what House Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) calls a "job-killing tax hike."

House GOP leaders gave their members a packet of talking points for the August recess. The first item is: "Washington Democrats are poised to allow the largest tax increase in American history to take effect next year."

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released statements in the districts of dozens of Democratic House members, asking if the lawmaker would "prevent these tax hikes or cave to his Democrat leaders once again."

Few if any Democrats favor letting all the Bush tax cuts expire—and some want to preserve them for the top bracket—just as most Republicans are not talking about ending Social Security. But these causes have deep roots within the parties.

The GOP's antitax passions have been further fueled by tea-party activists. And the Democratic resurgence in recent years began with the party's successful fight against President George W. Bush's 2005 plan to partially privatize Social Security.

Mr. Obama created the deficit panel, formally known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, after Congress refused to establish one, and the panel is already facing attacks from both sides.

"The only purpose of the deficit commission is to propose a tax increase that Democrats don't have to take responsibility for," said Mr. Connolly, the spokesman for the Club for Growth. "It's a fig leaf."

Liberal groups, including unions and MoveOn.org, have formed the coalition "Strengthen Social Security" to fight any commission recommendation to cut the program's benefits. The commission didn't respond to a request for comment.

Write to Naftali Bendavid at naftali.bendavid@wsj.com