social security

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:

ai???I believe a budget should reflect Americaai??i??s values of fairness and opportunity. It should create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and keep our commitment to seniors.

ai???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.

ai???Together with Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security embodies the moral fabric of our country. These programs are the foundation of economic security for Americaai??i??s seniors and the most vulnerable. […]

ai???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 Americaai??i??s seniors.

ai???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.

ai???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.ai???

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 …

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) announced his opposition to a budget proposal with chained CPI today. Here’s a statement he issued on the matter:

“I made a promise to the people of Rhode Island that I would always oppose cuts to Social Security, and Iai??i??m going to keep that promise. Social Security is fully solvent for the next twenty years, has not contributed to our budget deficits, and has no place in this debate over federal spending. The so-called ai???chained CPIai??i?? proposal included in President Obamaai??i??s budget is nothing more than a benefit cut disguised behind technical jargon. While I commend the President for including some smart provisions in his budget like investments in infrastructure and the Buffett Rule for tax fairness, I cannot support a proposal that would force seniors to pay for deficits Social Security had no part in creating.”

Click here to tell President Obama you wonai??i??t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America are two grassroots progressive groups threatening to back a primary challenge to any Democrat who votes to use the chained CPI measure. “If people don’t represent their constituents back home and pursue an agenda of cutting Social Security benefits,… then, yeah, there needs to be accountability in 2014, and we’re very serious,” said PCCC cofounder Adam Green. He added that his group has already taken the first step by asking people who signed the petition if they would be willing to run for Congress to defend entitlements. More than 1,300 members said yes, he said.

Chained CPI gives Republicans a political opening.

By introducing a proposal to use chained CPI to cut Social Security and veterans benefits, President Obama is handing the Republican Party a rallying cry to run on in 2014. In the past 24 hours, leading Republican lawmakers, right-wing pundits, and conservative activists have latched onto the chained CPI proposal to attack Democrats:

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee:Ai??Walden appeared on CNN to claim Obama is “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors and I just think it’s not the right way to go.” Watch it:
Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY): Collins opposes chained CPI and says it would “pinch our seniorsAi??who, come the end of the month, the stories I hear, are having troubleAi??putting food on the table.”
Right-wing activist Grover Norquist: Norquist blasted chained CPI as a violation of his anti-tax pledge.
Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly:O’Reilly complained that chained CPI would harm the lives of low-income seniors like his mother.

All of this demonstrates that by agreeing to chained CPI Democrats would not only be violating the historical principles of the Democratic Party, but they would be opening themselves up to an onslaught of Republican attacks in 2014.

There are, however, a number of Democrats who are not falling for this trap. Here’s a small list:

Ai??Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI):Whitehouse said that he “cannot support” a proposal that includes chained CPI because it “would force seniors to pay for deficits Social Security had no part in creating.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): In her statement opposing chained CPI, Warren called it a “fancy way” to say “cut benefits for seniors, the permanently disabled, and orphans.”
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI):Pocan said he will “I will not support [chained CPI]. I will not …

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)

Yesterday, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)Ai??vowed to vote against chained CPI, issuing a statement saying, “While there is much in the Presidentai??i??s budget to admire, I strongly oppose chained CPI, and I will vote against these benefit cuts should they come before the House.”

That puts the number of Members of the House of Representatives who have vowed to vote against chained CPI at 35.

Click here to tell President Obama you wonai??i??t stand for Social Security benefit cuts.

AndAi??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.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) just sent out an email to her supporters responding to President Obama’s budget, which includes a chained CPI that would cut Social Security and veterans benefits.

Warren says she’s “shocked” by Obama’s proposal, which would amount to a “fancy way to say ‘cut benefits for seniors, the permanently disabled, and orphans.’” Read Warren’s full e-mail below:

Hi Mindy,

My brother David has always had the special spark in our family.

Like our two older brothers, David served in the military. When he got out, he started a small business — and when that one didn’t work out, he started another one. He couldn’t imagine an America where he wasn’t living by his wits every single day.

Year after year, my brother paid into Social Security. He never questioned it. He figured he was paying so that he — and a lot of other people — could have a secure retirement.

Today my brother lives on his Social Security. That’s about $1,100 a month. $13,200 a year.

I’m telling you my brother’s story not because it’s unusual, but because it’s like the story of so many other people. I can almost guarantee that you know someone — a family member, friend, or neighbor — who counts on Social Security checks to get by.

That’s why I was shocked to hear that the President’s newest budget proposal would cut $100 billion in Social Security benefits. Our Social Security system is critical to protecting middle class families, and we cannot allow it to be dismantled inch by inch.

The President’s policy proposal, known as “chained CPI,” would re-calculate the cost of living for Social Security beneficiaries. That new number won’t keep up with inflation on things like food and health care — the basics that we need to live.

In short, “chained …

Last night, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly covered the progressive rally against the chained CPI outside the White House yesterday.

While O’Reilly spent much of the segment disagreeing with progressives about various issues, he explained why he thinks they “may have a point” about opposing chained CPI.

O’REILLY: Let’s be honest about this for a minute. […] My mother Mrs. O’Reilly, without her son Bill, who helps her out, big time, needs that Social Security bump. If I wasn’t here she would need it, alright, to keep paying her property taxes which are exorbitant, in Nassau County, to stay in the home. She’s 90. If the President is going to take Mrs. O’Reilly’s [Social Security] and every body else, seniors who don’t have any money away, then those left-wing groups may have a point.

Watch it: (Relevant section starts at 3:23):

It shouldn’t be surprising that even a hardcore conservative like O’Reilly is troubled by chained CPI. Polling conducted by the AARP finds that even 60 percent of Republicans over the age of 50 oppose using chained CPI to cut Social Security benefits.

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

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Groups attacking Obama over the proposed cuts are the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America. AARP, a powerful group representing seniors, is also campaigning against Obama’s proposed Social Security cuts.

Some liberals want to mount primary challenges against Democratic legislators who support the entitlement reductions. This tactic of challenging incumbents in party primaries is a favorite of the political right, and it has caused some Republican legislators to toe the conservative line rather than face an intraparty challenge. This is the dynamic that activists on the left are now threatening.

Today at 12:30 PM ET, organizations representing tens of millions of Americans — including the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Social Security Works, MoveOn, CREDO, Ai??the National Organization of Women, Democracy for America — are presenting a petition signed by over 2 million Americans to the White House asking President Obama to back off of his support for chained CPI.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — who said he would do everything in his power to block this policy — will be speaking, as will Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA). There will also be remarks by former Obama supporters and seniors currently on Social Security. Watch a livestream of our rally and press conference at 12:30 PM ET:

The PCCC is preparing to push back against this cut to Social Security benefits, but we need your help.Ai??Sign our emergency petition against benefit cuts. AndAi??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.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Mark Takano, Congressman Mark Pocan, Congressman Rick Nolan and leaders of organizations that oppose President Obama’s anticipated assault on Social Security went to the White House Tuesday to present petitions signed by 2.3-million Americans who reject the president’s proposal for “chained-CPI.”

The “chained-CPI” scheme would restructure cost-of-living adjustments in a way that cuts Social Security benefits for millions of seniors and veterans.

Sanders has vowed to “do everything in my power to block President Obama’s proposal to cut benefits for Social Security recipients through a chained consumer price index.”

And he’s got allies. Joining the senator and the House members at the White House were representatives of Social Security Works, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the National Organization for Women, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, the Campaign for America’s Future and MoveOn.org.

Last week,Ai??the press reportedAi??that President Obama will include the ai???chained CPIai??? in his budget proposal, which would cut Social Security and veterans benefits. Since this proposal was revealed,Ai??nationalAi??progressiveAi??groups have campaigned against it and will deliver over 1 million petition signatures to the White House tomorrow asking the President to back off of chained CPI.

As the grassroots has mobilized against the proposal, more congressional Democrats are declaring their opposition.

This morning, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) released a statement condemning Chained CPI and vowing to vote against it:

“No matter what you call it, a chained CPI is a cut to Social Security benefits.Ai?? For someone who retirees today, that cut would mean they would be getting $650 less a year when they are 75 and over $1,100 less a year when they reach age 85.Ai?? Seniors shouldn’t be facing cuts to the benefits they have earned while millionaires and billionaires are getting a tax break.Ai?? Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are vital to the economic security of Maine people and I will vote against cuts to benefits in these programs.”

Pingree is joined by many other Members in her opposition:

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, tweeted that he’d do “everything in his power” to block chained CPI:

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR):

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA):

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY):

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA):

Progressive Caucus Co-ChairsAi??Reps. RaA?l M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), in a statement emailed …

Progressive-leaning groups reacted quickly and angrily to news that President Barack Obama is proposing cuts to Social Security, going so far as to threaten to mount primary challenges against congressional Democrats who sign on to Obama’s plan.

“You can’t call yourself a Democrat and support Social Security benefit cuts,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, in a statement that was among many fired off by liberal groups Friday.

Progressive groups and lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), are blasting the Obama administration for cuts to Social Security and other programs expected to be unveiled in the president’s budget next week.

Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, warned that “progressives will do everything possible” to prevent the cuts.

When the White House released its budget today, it was clear the president hadn’t listened to the increasingly urgent threats and pleadings from the people who helped elect him, as his spending proposal includes a change to the way Social Security benefits are calculated, called the chained CPI, as well as changes to Medicare. The cut is anathema to liberal activists and lawmakers, who have gone all in to oppose the cut, warning Obama would face a “huge backlash” from his own base if he endorsed it. Now they’re threatening primary challenges against any Democrats who vote for their president’s budget. “You can’t call yourself a Democrat and support Social Security benefit cuts,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a group which endorses liberals in primaries, sometimes against establishment picks.

Democratic Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Edward Markey reached out to progressive activists around the country on Thursday, doing a 45-minute phone call with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee… [He] touted his history favoring public financing of campaigns, advocating for net neutrality, opposing the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting a public option in health insurance, and eventually a single payer system.

Last Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a non-binding amendment that sought to put the Senate on record opposing using “chained CPI” to calculate Social Security and Veterans’ benefits — which would cut benefits for both programs.

While Sanders had originally pushed for a voice vote, he was convinced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to back off of this demand and allow the amendment under a voice vote. The Senate then passed Sanders’s amendment, putting it on the record against chained CPI.

While the vote was non-binding, and the lack of a roll call vote means we are unable to see which Senators are in favor of chained CPI, it is an important victory that not enough Senators supported it to block Sanders’s amendment.

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter asking Members of Congress to vote against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

Five Social Security recipients from Pasadena and surrounding communities brought a letter bearing 1,029 signatures to Chu’s office and asked her to add her own… The letter — known as the Grayson-Takano letter for its authors, Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fl.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.) — is addressed to President Obama and vows that its signees will not vote for any cuts to the programs, including raising the retirement age or reducing the amount of disbursements.

Constituents delivering a petitioned signed by 702 people in the district asking Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL) to vote against cuts to benefits.

Yesterday, constituents working with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, CREDO Action, and Democracy for America visited Congressman Patrick Murphy’s (D-FL) office to ask him to sign the Grayson-Takano letter pledging to vote against any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. Ai??They presented the office with a petition in favor of the letter signed by 702 constituents. Recall that Murphy recently signed a letterAi??with dozens of House Republicans calling for deficit reduction and which only embraced protecting current beneficiaries’ benefits. As Americablog notes, the letter has the support of more Republicans than Democrats and is essentially “pro-cuts.”

“Those of us who are trying to hold onto our Social Security, our Medicare…my husband and I couldn’t live without Medicare or Social Security,” NormaAi??Riccobene said to Murphy’s district director Michael Kinney. “We paid into Social Security, we paid into Medicare. Don’t tell me you’re going to cut it or tweak it.”

“There’s no doubt Congressman Murphy’s committed to the integrity of those programs,” responded Kinney.

Watch the visit:

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) on a conference call Wednesday, reiterated his strong opposition to any proposed cuts in benefits to Social Security, Medicare and Medicare, saying he is happy to let President Obama know that he “won’t use his vote to hurt the needy.”

Grayson, who was joined by Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), along with nearly 1,000 media and activists from across the country, has garnered the signatures of 27 members of Congress on a “No Cuts” letter that rejects any cuts in benefits to the social safety nets…

Today’s conference call was organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and chaired by its co-founder Adam Green who said that, over 200,000 supporters had already signed the “No Cuts” letter, “a true testament to grass-roots energy around this issue.”

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has teamed up with Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) to ask their congressional colleagues to sign a letter pledging to vote against any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.

Grayson appeared on Take Action News and talked about the letter with host David Shuster and producer Daniel Marans. Marans asked Grayson about the reactions of Americans if benefits were cut, and Grayson replied that Americans would be marching in the streets of Washington, D.C. and state capitols:

MARANS: I think we need to take this eventually to acts of civil disobedience, and getting arrested at the capitol and White House, doing things to stop this at all cost. If it came to that would you support that?

GRAYSON: Listen it will come to that if they actually go through with cuts. If they go through with cuts, you’ll see people pouring into the streets. Pouring into the streets of Washington, D.C. and every other capital, state capital, and major city in the country. This is going to be intolerable for people, this is in fact a matter of life and death in their own lives. And what’s the point? The Social Security Administration has almost $2 trillion in the bank. $2 trillion. That’s a program that’s operated at profit virtually every single year since it started 80 years ago. And under the current law, under current assumptions, under current projections, that’s a system that can pay out every single benefit required under current law for the next 25 years, and minor tweaks would make that forever.

Listen to it:

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

Listen to our national conference call with Alan Grayson …

Everything from public education to child care subsidies and aviation safety could be on the chopping block. But a group of more than 20 Democrats are petitioning Obama in the hopes of ensuring the nation’s most critical social-safety-net programs will not be subject to budget cuts.

“Democrats have built the most popular government programs in American history — including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — by working with Republicans whenever possible and by defeating Republican opposition whenever necessary. The torch has been passed to today’s elected officials, and we must carry it forward boldly,” states the letter, authored by Reps. Alan Grayson (Fla.) and Mark Takano (Calif.).

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)

Last week, PCCC memberAi??Patricia Kerekes went to Rep. Carol Shea Porter ‘s (D-NH) office to ask the Congresswoman to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter promising to vote against any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits.

Shea-Porter’s staffer,Ai??Carol Perry, took the letter Kerekes gave to her and then assured Perry, “She’s not going to compromise. She’s not going to take any cuts.” Watch it:

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.

PCCC members

21 House Democrats have signed the letter by Reps. Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Mark Takano (D-CA) vowing to vote against any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.

Last Friday, Progressive Change Campaign Committee members in Oregon presented a petition signed by 1,372 constituents asking Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) to sign onto the Grayson-Takano letter.

“I’m the widow of a federal employee and 78 years old. So I have been on Medicare for quite a few years,” explained Margaret Wills about the importance of opposing cuts. “If I didn’t have that Medicare…I would probably be either dead or on the streets by now.”

“I look upon it as, this is not really about balancing the budget as much as it is part of the campaign from the time Medicare and Social Security were put in place to get rid of them,” she concluded about those advocating for benefit cuts.

25 people attended the event to petition the congresswoman. Marshal Jevning, one of Bonamici’s staffer’s, says it was the most people that had ever visited the office at one time for a constituent visit.

Watch the visit:

Click here to sign on as a citizen sponsor of the Grayson-Takano letter against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts.

With the budget sequester looming, some lawmakers are compiling alternative to the across-the-board cuts, and some conservatives want to slash Social Security and Medicare benefits as part of a deal.

A new poll out today from The Hill finds that this would put them out of step with the American public and even with self-identified Republicans.

In the poll, 62 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats opposed cutting Social Security and Medicare, while 49 percent of overall respondents said they favored cutting back on defense spending. Even among Republicans, 56 percent said they would oppose defense cuts while a larger 62 percent said they would oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Click hereAi??to pledge to hold any Democrat who agrees to a deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits accountable.

You should follow BoldProgressives on Twitter here.