Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
Earlier this week, President Obama offered a fiscal deal that enacts a so-called ai???Chained CPIai??? to calculate Social Security and veteransai??i?? benefits. Under this plan, beneficiaries would get cuts in their cost of living adjustments.
There has been an intense backlash among congressional Democrats, but two members of the Senate Democratic caucus — Joe Lieberman (CT) and Kent Conrad (ND) — have indicated that they would be supportive of this cut to Social Security benefits.
The two share one common trait — they’re both retiring. They do not have to face accountability to voters, and they both will have the option of taking lucrative lobbying jobs Ai??which will pad their retirements. Earlier this year, Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) office specifically refused to disclose any job negotiations he’s having for his post-Senate career.
As The Atlantic’s Molly Ball argues, Conrad and Lieberman’s retirements clear the path for a new class of Democratic Senators who are more progressive: “North Dakota’s old Democratic senator was the moderate Kent Conrad; its new Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp, campaigned on a platform of ending tax cuts for millionaires and protecting Social Security from cuts.” As she notes, “Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson is out; Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, is in.”
Our polling in key swing states and President Obama’s home state of Illinois showed that voters overwhelmingly opposed cuts to Social Security benefits, and that they support Elizabeth Warren’s “balanced approach” of cutting military spending and corporate welfare while making the rich pay their fair. Voters gave these new Members of Congress a progressive mandate.
One would only hope that Lieberman and Conrad do not want their final legacy in the Senate to be one of helping hurt America’s retirees and veterans.
We set up an ActBlue page to highlight and reward bold progressive members of Congress who are speaking out publicly today.Ai??Check them out and donate $3 to them here.
Click hereAi??to pledge to hold any Democrat who agrees to a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits accountable.
Click hereAi??to call your Member of Congress and demand that they oppose this bad deal.
As usual, it’s the gutless Dems, including Pelosi, who don’t give a rat’s ass how they are perceived by their voters because 2 of them won’t be answerable on retirement from Congress. But we will wreck vengeance on Pelosi if she is stupid enough to kiss Obama’s backside on this issue. Obama has become so repugnant to me I gave his campaign not a penny and emailed him that he got my vote only because he was the lesser of two evils. I’m sure he could care less–but NOTE: He only goes to the voters when he needs to get elected. The rest of his first term he forgot who we were. Watch him repeat his performance in this term.
Senator Kohl has always stood with seniors on all issues affecting us, but he’s leaving. However, Sen. Tammy Baldwin has never forgotten her constituency all the years she served in the House, and I know she will perform admirably and consistently on our behalf in the Senate. As for numbskull Sen. Ron Johnson, he’s a hopeless teabagger–’nuff said.