Obama Should NOT Use Social Security & Medicare as Bargaining Chips

[jtown1123]

I was very distrubed during the State of the Union when President Obama admitted he offered up cuts to the big 3 in exchange for tax cuts millionaires shouldn't even have in the first place:

Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Or do we want to keep our investments in everything else - like education and medical research; a strong military and care for our veterans? Because if we're serious about paying down our debt, we can't do both.

The American people know what the right choice is. So do I. As I told the Speaker this summer, I'm prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.

And let's be clear, from this point forward "strengthen Social Security" from the White House means cut.

People have denied denied denied that President Obama offered raising the Medicare age and the Chained CPI COLA for Social Security in his dealings with Boehner last summer. This pretty much confirms he sure as hell did. Very disappointing.

NCPSSM released a statement last night with this same concern

I'm getting really frustrated the Democrat with the most influence in our country is not strong on these issues. Do we really want to give the GOP any leeway here?

[ProSense]

1. I

agree with this statement:

Our President/CEO, Max Richtman responded:

“We share President Obama’s belief that we must rebuild our economy in a way that rewards Americans’ hard work and re-instills fairness into an economic system that too often rewards the rich and punishes everyone else. Ironically, these core American values of hard work, fairness and compassion are also the tenets of the programs most often targeted by Washington for cuts—Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. If offering more reforms leads to benefit cuts for seniors in these vital programs then seniors program will once again become a bargaining chip traded in exchange for tax breaks millionaires don’t need in the first place.

The President’s support for providing a middle class tax cut to help spur the economy is the right policy, but reducing Social Security payroll taxes is the wrong way to do it. Extending the payroll tax cut further endangers Social Security’s financial integrity and could undermine our efforts to defend the program from benefit cuts or privatization. If seniors are required to pay for the payroll tax holiday — which most would not benefit from – through Medicare cuts as some lawmakers have suggested, that would also be contrary to the President’s stated goals of fairness.

We urge President Obama to safeguard the middle-class by drawing a clear line in the sand, promising the American people that this so-called ‘holiday’ will end this year. Restoring Social Security’s successful self-funding model is the only way to preserve its independence for future generations.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO

Cutting costs should be clearly defined as reducing waste in the system and other savings unrelated to benefits.

On edit, this needs to be promoted more:

Just a reminder: according to the Social Security Trustees the Social Security Trust fund currently has a surplus of $2.6 trillion. This surplus is projected to grow until 2022. At that time the balance in the trust funds are projected to be $3.7 trillion. The skyrocketing costs of healthcare system wide have posed a greater threat to Medicare; however, healthcare reform added years of solvency to the program. While there’s more work to be done conservatives are now working to undo the progress already made by repealing the Affordable Care Act and reversing the savings already seen in Medicare.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Agreed...he's winning the argument on taxes without it

An unfortunate reminder of past negotiating blunders. Look at the polls on tax fairness and protecting SS and Medicare, if you need any more convincing, Barack.

[Scuba]

3. My least favorite moment in the speech.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. He could otherwise choose to remove the cap which exempts high-level income from the SS tax.

Almost all of Rmoney's income, for example, is exempt from the employment tax because he is in the super-rich category.

When saying that he's prepared "to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid," he's not saying that he's going to push for the removal of the cap. It would be easy for him to say that with a few words if he intended that.