July 20, 2011 8:44AM 

# Parallels to 1995 in Spending Fight 

By [Caleb O. Brown](https://www.cato.org/people/caleb-o-brown) 

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The American welfare state has been in crisis for decades. Many of the problems faced in 1995 fight have become less tractable problems today. [John Samples](https://www.cato.org/people/john-samples) comments in yesterday’s Cato Daily Podcast.

One notable difference between 1995 and today, Samples says, is that **the GOP of 1995 kept Social Security off the chopping block for spending cuts**.

Subscribe to the podcast [here (RSS)](http://feeds.cato.org/CatoDailyPodcast) and [here (iTunes)](http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/cato-daily-podcast/id158961219).

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Social Security](https://www.cato.org/topic/social-security), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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