News Archives: Tagged social security

PCCC’s Adam Green On Why Democrats Should Expand — Not Cut — Social Security Benefits   

Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green was on MSNBC’s The Ed Show yesterday, explaining how Democrats shouldn’t embrace politically disastrous cuts to Social Security benefits and instead should follow the lead of Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) Mark Begich (D-AK) and talk about expanding benefits. Green also covered the growing Draft Brian Schweitzer campaign to get the former Montana Governor to run for Senate:

GREEN: In 2012, one presidential ticket explicitly ran on the idea of cutting social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare, and that ticket was soundly defeated by Barack Obama. He does not have a mandate to cut Social Security benefits [...] We’re actually getting ready to go on offense in the Senate, rallying around people like Tom Harkin from Iowa and Mark Begich from Alaska who are not only saying these cuts are on the table, they want to expand Social Security benefits. So it’s in the best interest of the Democratic Party not just to help millions of people right now, but to make sure their base comes out and that they don’t commit political suicide by supporting Social Security benefit cuts right now.

Watch Green’s appearance:

Call your Member of Congress and ask them to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter vowing to vote against any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

Sign on as a citizen supporter of the Grayson-Takano letter.

 

Posted on May 20, 2013 at 11:33am by . Posted in . 2 comments. Leave a response.

THE ED SHOW: PCCC’s Adam Green talks Social Security and Draft Schweitzer   

PCCC’s Adam Green was a featured guest on MSNBC’s Ed Show on Sunday, May 19th. He discussed the Draft Brian Schweitzer campaign in Montana, and the efforts of progressives across the nation to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. [more]

Posted on May 19, 2013 at 6:00pm by . Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a response.

Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman Refuses To Sign Letter Against Benefit Cuts   

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) won’t commit to voting against benefit cuts.

40 Members of the House of Representatives have signed onto the Grayson-Takano letter promising to vote against any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

But one congressman who has not is Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Local Los Angeles resident Kim Kaufman attended a recent town hall event with him and asked him to sign the letter. This was his response, where he compared the Grayson-Takano letter to Washington lobbyist Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge:

I would not sign onto any letter that says under no circumstances would I vote for a bill that had that in it. It’s like the Republicans pledge they’ll never vote for tax increases. I don’t want to sign onto a pledge that under no circumstances will I ever do something.  I’ll express my feelings not to do certain things but I don’t want to make that kind of a pledge. I can see possibilities that some things that we don’t like may be in a final budget and that will get us a lot of things we do want. So I’m not going to sign an unequivocal pledge — for a bill maybe, but not against it.

Kaufman uploaded this video where she read off Waxman’s statement and offered her own response. “Taking a pledge not to cut Social Security is not like taking a pledge not to raise taxes on already rich people. One is a moral response in how to govern and one is not,” she says. Watch it:

Last month, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) held a briefing call with PCCC members where he explained his own take on how the Grayson-Takano letter is very much not like the Norquist pledge:

“I had a reporter ask me recently ‘Is this just like the Grover Norquist No Tax Increase Pledge’ and I said, ‘Yeah, sure, just like a fish is like a bicycle.’ If you promise that you won’t raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires and multinational corporations that shows who you think you really represent. And if you say you won’t cut benefits for old people, sick people, poor people, that shows who you care about too.”

Additionally, we conducted our own polling of swing states like New Hampshire and Virginia and found that two-thirds of the public support increasing taxes on the wealthy (a violation of the Norquist Pledge) while roughly the same proportion of the public in those states opposes cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits.

Click here to call Congressman Waxman and ask him to sign the Grayson-Takano letter against benefit cuts, because protecting seniors, sick people, and poor people is not the same as protecting millionaires and billionaires.

Posted on May 10, 2013 at 10:16am by . Posted in , , . Leave a response.

National Review Writer Says Medicare Doesn’t Do Any Good And Should ‘Go Broke’   

National Review Online writer Kevin Williamson was on MSNBC today and claimed that Medicare and Social Security benefits are not important for seniors and that it would be best if they went “broke”:

WILLIAMSON: These programs we’re working so hard to defend like Medicare and Social Security don’t actually do a tremendous amount of good for people [...] So the sooner those go broke, the sooner those disappear, and we replace them with, better more productive alternatives, the better off the country is.

Watch it:

Far from accomplishing nothing, these programs are important in a myriad of ways. Social Security has an economic output of $1.2 trillion, creating 8.4 million jobs. It also is estimated to keep 20 million Americans out of poverty. And it’s no coincidence that life expectancy has shot up since we enacted Medicare.

Recall that Williamson once justified a Tennessee county refusing to put out a fire that burned down a family’s home because they did not pay for a subscription-only fire service. It now appears that he’s ready to burn down the country’s most treasured social insurance programs.

Call your Member of Congress and ask them to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter vowing to vote against any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

Posted on May 8, 2013 at 9:47am by . Posted in , . 3 comments. Leave a response.

McClatchy: Obama’s bid to squeeze Social Security enrages his core backers   

Prominent liberal activists – among them groups, such as MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, that helped Obama gain re-election in November – view his willingness to reduce future Social Security payments as a betrayal of core Democratic commitments to help the needy and ease the burdens of old age. The groups are vowing to run primary challengers against Democratic members of Congress who back the president’s controversial quest. “Social Security is a key part of the Democratic legacy and a vital lifeline to millions of Americans,” Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told McClatchy on Thursday. “Any Democrat who votes for such a plan should be ready for a primary challenge.” [more]

Posted on May 2, 2013 at 12:56pm by . Posted in , , , , , , , , . Leave a response.

Report: Obama’s Social Security Benefit Cuts Would Disproportionately Harm African Americans   

Momentum continues to build against President Obama’s proposed chained CPI cut to Social Security and veterans benefits, with 40 Members of Congress endorsing the Grayson-Takano letter rejecting any cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

The think tank Global Policy Solutions released a report today that should cast further doubt on chained CPI. It finds that, if enacted, chained CPI “will disproportionately harm African Americans who have dramatically fewer sources of wealth to draw upon compared to whites.”

The reason why is because African Americans are more likely to rely on Social Security benefits as a large portion of their income. One example the report uses is “forty-seven percent of African American seniors rely on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their income in retirement, compared to 33 percent of their white counterparts.” It also notes that Obama’s proposed exemptions for the very old would be less likely to benefit African Americans, because average life expectancy for African American men after the age of 65 is two  years shorter than white men, making  them less likely to be eligible for the proposed exemption for the very old.”

Click here to tell President Obama you won’t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

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Posted on April 30, 2013 at 2:33pm by . Posted in , . Leave a response.

THE MILWAUKEE-WISCONSIN JOURNAL SENTINEL: Liberals pressure Gwen Moore to pledge to oppose all cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid benefits   

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal political action committee, is asking its supporters to call U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) and urge her to sign the so-called Grayson-Takano letter.

“Representative Gwen Moore has not yet signed the letter, and she is hurting the ability of progressive leaders to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits,” the email to supporters says.

The letter, to be sent to President Barack Obama, is signed by 39 Democratic House members, including Alan Grayson of Florida and Mark Takano of California. [more]

Posted on April 26, 2013 at 12:00pm by . Posted in , , , , , , , . Leave a response.

POLL: Clear Majority Of Americans Oppose Chained CPI   

As progressive, senior, and veterans groups mobilize against the chained CPI — a recalculation of veterans and Social Security programs that would result in a benefits cut — a new poll finds that a majority of Americans opposes this change.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that 51 percent of Americans oppose chained CPI and only 37 percent support it. Parsing out the results further, the Washington Post notes that the major group supporting the change is American who earn six-figures, and that middle and lower-income Americans are most hostile to the policy:

Income is also a dividing line in tolerance for Social Security cuts. Americans with annual incomes of at least $100,000 back the proposal by a 53 to 39 percent margin, but support plummets to 38 percent among those making $50,000 to under $100,000 and to 33 percent among those with incomes below $50,000. Support bottoms out at 25 percent among those with lower incomes who are over the age of 50.

Click here to tell President Obama you won’t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

 

Posted on April 16, 2013 at 12:26pm by . Posted in , . 1 comment. Leave a response.

Obama Budget Cuts Social Security By $200 Billion, But Gives The Pentagon Twice That Much   

President Obama has proposed enacting chained CPI, which would reduce spending on Social Security benefits by $200 billion over the next ten years. This has provoked outrage from progressive groups, and from groups representing seniors and veterans (whose benefits are also impacted by this change).

But something that has gotten less attention is the fact that President Obama’s budget also gives twice this much money — $400 billion — to the Pentagon over the next decade, by reducing sequester cuts down to $100 billion rather than $500 billion over the next ten years.

That means that Obama is essentially cutting Social Security’s budget by $200 billion while giving twice that much money to the Pentagon. Last night, former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean tweeted that this sort of deal is enough for him to become an independent.

Click here to tell President Obama you won’t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

Posted on April 15, 2013 at 10:09am by . Posted in , , , . 8 comments. Leave a response.

Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter: ‘I Will Not Vote For A Budget That Supports Chained CPI’   

Rep. Carol Shea Porter (D-NH)

New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter (D-NH) released a statement this week saying that she cannot vote for any budget that includes chained CPI, as Obama’s does:

“I believe a budget should reflect America’s values of fairness and opportunity. It should create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and keep our commitment to seniors.

“There has been a lot of talk recently about chained CPI, and I want to make one thing abundantly clear to the middle class families and seniors I represent: I will not vote for a budget that supports chained CPI and cuts benefits that seniors have earned through a lifetime of hard work.

“Together with Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security embodies the moral fabric of our country. These programs are the foundation of economic security for America’s seniors and the most vulnerable. [...]

“I am proud to support legislation to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security. The Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act, which I cosponsored, would create long-range solvency and improve benefits, and it would ensure greater economic security for America’s seniors.

“I urge the President to consider the approach taken in the Van Hollen budget, legislation that would reduce our deficit in a balanced way, invest in programs that help our economy grow, and maintain our commitment to seniors.

“I look forward to working with the President to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and keep the American dream alive for generations to come, but I remain steadfast in my opposition to balancing the budget on the backs of seniors, veterans, or the middle class.”

At least 40 Members of the House of Representatives have said they will not vote for chained CPI.

Call your Member of Congress and ask them to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter vowing to vote against any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits.

 

Posted on April 12, 2013 at 12:50pm by . Posted in , , . Leave a response.