Alan Grayson: Dems Would ‘Shoot Ourselves In The Head’ By Agreeing To Social Security Cuts

[Report1212]

Never subtle, but almost always right!

“The Democratic Party should be united,” said Grayson. “We are the party that created Social Security. We are the party that created Medicare. We should stand behind it, and we should protect it. It’s amazingly popular among the voters. Why should we shoot ourselves in the head by saying we’re going to end these programs, or even cut back these programs, when we created them, and the voters love them?”

Read more: http://boldprogressives.org/alan-grayson-democrats-would-be-shooting-themselves-in-the-head-if-they-agree-to-social-security-or-medicare-cuts/

[ananda]

1. Thank you Mr. Grayson!

..

[northoftheborder]

2. I'm SO glad Mr. Grayson is back!!!!!!!

[ProSense]

3. Even Joe Manchin agrees with him.

Do Not Cut Social Security

September 20, 2012

A major bloc of 29 senators took a strong stand today against any cuts to Social Security as part of a deficit reduction deal. "We will oppose including Social Security cuts for future or current beneficiaries in any deficit reduction package," the senators said in a letter circulated by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the founder of the Senate Defending Social Security Caucus. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer, the Senate's No. 3 leader, signed the letter. So did Sens. Mark Begich, Sheldon Whitehouse and Al Franken, who joined Sanders at a Capitol news conference.

Social Security has not contributed to the deficit or to the national debt, the senators said. The program that benefits more than 50 million retirees, widows, widowers, orphans and disabled Americans has a $2.7 trillion surplus and, according to actuaries, will be able to pay every benefit owed to every eligible recipient for the next 21 years.

"Contrary to some claims, Social Security is not the cause of our nation's deficit problem. Not only does the program operate independently, but it is prohibited from borrowing," the letter said. "Even though Social Security operates in a fiscally responsible manner, some still advocate deep benefit cuts and seem convinced that Social Security hands out lavish welfare checks. But Social Security is not welfare. Seniors earned their benefits by working and paying into the system," the letter added.

Social Security has not contributed to deficits because it has a dedicated funding stream. Workers and employers each pay half of a 12.4 percent payroll tax on the first $110,100 of a worker's wages. The tax rate for employees was reduced to 4.2 percent in 2011 and 2012, but is scheduled to return to 6.2 percent in January.

To read the letter, click here »

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=066FB085-5798-4E6C-ABA2-85549D84DFA6

Other signatories:

Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.)

This doesn't include Elizabeth Warren and other new Senators.

Democratic Senator Introduces Bill To Lift Social Security’s Tax Cap, Extend Solvency For Decades
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021834952

[Report1212]

13. Even tea partiers agree with him

There is no constituency for cuts!

[ProSense]

14. The teabaggers in Congress agree with him?

Then what's all the fuss about?

[sabrina 1]

16. Wall Street doesn't agree with him. They want that huge fund

to gamble with in their huge casino and they are behind the lies that SS had anything to do with the Deficit.

Thank YOU Alan Grayson. The momentum is growing and I feel hopeful that whatever sneaky deals might have been made with Bowles/Simpsons lying Committee, it's becoming more and more obvious that there will be huge opposition to their plans.

And someone please tell me Erskine Bowles is not going to be the new Treasury Sec. Another fox in the henhouse? I hope not.

[bucolic_frolic]

28. Maybe

Maybe Simpson-Bowles was your typical Presidential Commission
meant to study something and appear to be doing something about
it, but will end up being substantially ignored in policy

But it gave Obama deficit reduction credentials when he needed them

[sabrina 1]

29. That could have been done with some actual economists rather than

people who have long been liars regarding SS and whose main goals have included privatizing SS. Once they introduced SS into the conversation they should have been removed from the Committee. Leaving liars on a Committee like that does not give anyone credibility.

[Red Mountain]

47. What makes Erskine think he's a Democrat eludes me.....

Very little policy balance came from that committee.

[Report1212]

50. Not in congress in the public nt

[NEOhiodemocrat]

39. Thank goodness my Senator Sherrod Brown was re=elected!

And thank you Alan Grayson, I am so looking forward to your return to Washington! I love your voicing support for everyday American's. You were missed.

[LibinMo]

43. I went to both my Senators' website and left this comment

"I just finished reading Sen. Bernie Sanders' letter opposing cuts to Social Security. It was signed by 29 Senators. I couldn't find your name among them. Are you in favor of cuts to Social Security? It is 90% of my retirement income and any cut whatsoever would be an extreme hardship, especially coupled with the recent inadequate COLA."

It would be interesting to see McCaskill's response. My other Senator is that POS Roy Blount. Every time I contact him I get a silly canned Republican response but I keep doing it anyway.

[Tx4obama]

4. Alrighty. But I've NEVER heard a Democrat ever say anything about ending those programs.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Yeah, but there have been rumors of cuts to benefits....

and some noise that some Dems are willing to compromise on that score.

That's what we have to fight.

[argiel1234]

11. All the politicians that Ive seen that agree to cut Social Security are Republicans

All of the politicians Ive seen also wanting to end Social Security are Republicans


Ending or cutting Social security in any way is always supported by Republicans.



So you are correct.

Any politician agreeing to either cut or end Social Security in any way is a fucking greedy right wing Republican.


Im glad you clarified that for everyone.

Thank you.

[quinnox]

27. Grayson also talks about being against cutting back, not just ending

And its good to hear any liberal Democrat say this, because I'm not sure all the Dems in congress are on board with this view.

[Doctor_J]

32. Neither have any Repukes

but Obama (via Carney) has discussed cutting (not slashing) benefits. If the president does this now, he'll be shooting ALL of the Dems in the head.

[bvar22]

33. Plenty of DEMOCRATS have lobbyied FOR "Private Accounts"...

..and other scams to give this money to their friends on Wall Street.
That was a Golden Priority of the DLC when it was founded in the 90s,
and was pasted all over the DLC website before the Crash of 2007.

"* In 1999, the Democratic Leadership Council published the New Progressive Manifesto. It declared: "We must gradually convert Social Security from a transfer program to a new system of individual private savings supplemented by modest public pensions for the needy."

http://www.nationalcenter.org/TPSocialSecurity7.html

While the DLC has technically been dissolved and its website scrubbed, its members, their financial backers, and their goals are still very much with us under other disguises, such as "New Democrats", "3rd Way", or "Blue Dogs",
and are in positions of power in the current Democratic Party Administration.

A snake may shed its skin,
but it is STILL a snake.

[font size=5]
The DLC New Team
[/font]
(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254886&kaid=86&subid=85




[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[Overseas]

34. Thank you for remembering.

After the right wing and our conservative owned major media keep up a drumbeat about Entitlement Reform, that leads the public to believe that something really must be done about it, and gives cover to Democrats who need the ample funding from corporations and Wall Street in our current pay to play system.

There are many other ways to raise revenue that have not been tried, like the tiny transaction tax on Wall Street trades, and ways to trim our deficit like de-privatizing the military and/or reducing the rampant war profiteering, that need to be tried before we even talk about touching SSI, Medicare or Medicaid.

[DhhD]

37. Texan Ron Kirk ran as a Republican against Senator John Cornyn in the 2008 primary elections.

Then he showed up working/helping out the Obama Administration after the Presidential Election of 2008.

[grahamhgreen]

36. Cutting the payroll tax is damaging to SS.

[bvar22]

38. Absolutely.

The FICA Reductions ("Payroll Tax Holiday" in Republican Speak) ties Social Security directly to The Deficit
since it mandates that shortfalls to FICA revenue due to the "holiday" will be covered by a transfer from the General Fund.

The Democrats who created Social Security insisted on a completely independent funding mechanismFOR A REASON.
It was NOT a good idea to connect Social Security to the General Fund and the Deficit.

It is now UNTRUE for Democrats to claim that Social Security does NOT add to The Deficit,
because NOW, thanks to the Payroll Tax Holiday", it does.

The "Payroll Tax Holiday" has deeply damaged Social Security by tearing down the sacred Firewall.
NOW, any future Republican Administration (and they WILL come) will be free to raid FICA contributions,
and call it a Democratic Stimulus.

Does the phrase "We want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub" ring a bell with anyone here?

Extra points for naming the source of that quote.

Double Bonus Points for anyone who can connect Reducing FICA Contributions (Payroll Tax "Holiday&quot to the phrase "shrink it down".




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[grahamhgreen]

52. Without googling... Frank Luntz?

Double bonus? No idea....

And, couldn't one say that technically it's the Budget Control Act of 2011 that is contributing to the deficit and not SS???

[stupidicus]

42. thank Monica Lewinsky

Clinton was looking at a privatization scheme before Bush was.

That is just another reason why all the "concern troll" BS from so many DUers before the election was BS.

There's plenty of reasons why not trusting the dem leadership on this is a bad idea until they reject it as Grayson is calling for.

[daa]

46. Obama has already been willing to CUT social security. Nt

[Zorra]

5. Common sense and plain speaking. Sweet! nt

[forestpath]

7. K&R

[Wounded Bear]

8. I'm proud to see both of my Senators on that list...

Go Washinton!

[calimary]

9. So glad he's back! He says what needs to be said!

[rhett o rick]

10. Lower the Medicare age. nm

[sabrina 1]

17. Increase SS benefits. They earned it, it's there, it's theirs.

AND it would be the equivalent of a Stimulus package only better as it would not be paid for from the Fed Budget, but from the fund owned by the people themselves.

[Mr.Bill]

12. Republicans don't like Social Security?

Fine. Stop sending SS checks to anyone who was registered as a Republican on 11/6/12. I'm sure they will all be very happy.

[LovingA2andMI]

15. LOVE Congressional Alan Grayson and....

He's right on point, as usual, in this case.

[JanT]

18. i love alan grayson

i am so glad to see him back

[Change has come]

19. In the Congressman elect's own words...

Posted earlier today.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251247147

[NuttyFluffers]

20. good. say it first and suck out all the oxygen from even thinking about it.

it's OFF THE TABLE.

now move on and talk about how you're gonna raise taxes.

[DirkGently]

21. That's m' Congressman!

[Report1212]

31. Lucky! nt

[suffragette]

40. Thank you for helping to bring him back to Congress!

His voice is needed there.

[DirkGently]

41. I think my yard sign did it

We didn't even install it. Came home one day and it was there. Probably from something we signed before.

The across-the-street neighbor immediately erected a Romney sign.

That was fun.

[Lasher]

22. I have missed him.

I wish we could clone him.

[SoapBox]

23. Kicked

...go Alan!

[WillyT]

24. HUGE K & R !!!

[Faygo Kid]

25. Grateful he is back in the House. Wish it was Sen. Grayson.

But grateful he is there fighting for us.

[valerief]

26. Oh, no. Voters want more war. So rich people can get richer.

[UCmeNdc]

30. You are 100% correct!

The Democratic party would destroy its base and brand if they caved in on Social Security. They should not cave in on Medicare also. They have a golden opportunity to show how they can lead now. If they cave in on Social Security they will earn a reputation as weak without backbone.

[sabrina 1]

51. You're absolutely correct, and so is Grayson. Any tampering with SS

in fact, any mention of it in any conversation involving the Deficit that results in any kind of 'fix' will seriously lead to the end of he Dem Party as we know it.

They can kiss goodbye to an increasingly disillusioned base and we will NOT be fooled by clever turns of phrase, such as Chained CPIs or whatever else they come up with.

They have caved on Wars, on prosecuting War and Economic Criminals, on the PO, on so many things. But if they think they can fool people on SS they will find out that those who have always warned about the SS being the Third Rail of politics are still correct.

[kentuck]

35. Obviously...

This is not our grandfathers' Democratic Party.

[Shankapotomus]

44. Hearing Con. Grayson bring truth to Washington again

Last edited Mon Nov 19, 2012, 11:00 AM - Edit history (1)

in his own unique way is going to be great! Grayson 2016!

[Romulox]

45. THIS is what all those "we can't means test!" and "we can't raise the cap!" folks are giving us.

They are going to deliver a benefit cut/age eligibility increase in their pursuit to make sure SS remains "not welfare".

[BlueMan Votes]

48. why should we shoot ourselves in the head...?

because the plutocrats say so.

i think that the democratic gains in the house and senate threw the Democratic leadership for a loop- they had expected losses- and were ready to deal away the farm to the repugs, just as the oligarch overlords have insisted.
now- the voters went and spoke out of turn, and queered the whole deal.

[PATRICK]

49. One dangerously clever

compromise would be to put future cuts into a bill that would so increase jobs and prosperity that those cuts would become unnecessary and irrelevant. It is the base of money going in, from real wages, that would be the guarantor. ALL substitute measures are meaningless failures of nerve. Some propping in the interim is the only real justifiable measure- if it is immediately necessary- but we have to humor the frauds it seems.