Bully's Target The Most Vulnerable

[Star]

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Bernie Sanders Exposes Republican Plot To Cut Social Security For 11 Million Disabled People
By: Jason Easley
Monday, January, 12th, 2015

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is warning that Republicans are plotting to cut Social Security benefits for 11 million disabled Americans through a rule change that would make it more difficult to fund the disability account.

In a statement, Sen. Sanders explained what the House rules change will mean for disabled Americans who depend on Social Security:
“Around 11 million Americans, including nearly 2 million children with a disabled parent, rely on Social Security to help keep them out of poverty,” said Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

A new House rule creates a legal obstacle course that would make it harder to shift funds from the Social Security retirement account, which has a big surplus, to the smaller disability account. Such transfers have been done routinely in the past under both Republican and Democratic presidencies, including four times under President Ronald Reagan.

Without a transfer to shore up the disability fund, Social Security Administration experts say the disability program will run short of money next year, and there will be only enough to cover 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

<snip>

The Republican rule change that would lead to more benefits cuts will only push millions of Americans with no source of income further into poverty. House Republicans are repeating a pattern of attacking those who most need assistance. Since they have taken over the majority, Republicans have tried to cut benefits for the unemployed, children, wounded veterans, the elderly, and the disabled.

<snip>

The Republican desire to remake America into an oligarchy knows no limits. Sen. Sanders is leading the charge against the oligarchs, and the economic future of millions depends on his warnings being heeded.
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[Star]

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Republican Congress Launches With Back-Door Attack On Social Security Benefit

by Alan Pyke
January 7, 2015

Republicans are starting the new Congress by attacking Social Security funding through a subtle, obscure policy measure buried in the gigantic bill that establishes parliamentary rules for the new session.

The rules measure, passed late Tuesday after other day-one business like formal swearing-in ceremonies for members were completed, escalates the threat of a significant cut to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) within the next two years. The measure bans a common accounting technique that the people who manage Social Security funding have used many times in the past to prevent benefit cuts. The two funds that comprise the Social Security system have essentially borrowed from one another as necessary over the years to ensure that benefits can be paid in full each year. SSDI, which is the primary program for providing federal benefits to people unable to work due to disability, is projected to hit a shortfall in late 2016. Reallocating revenue from the much larger Social Security retirement benefits fund to SSDI would cover the shortfall, and trust fund managers have performed such reallocations 11 times since the late 1950s.

But the Republican rules package prohibits Congress from authorizing such a transfer. That will force a showdown over how to finance disability benefits sometime in the next two years, with the threat of a nearly 20 percent cut to SSDI payments looming over the debate. The measure was overshadowed in the news by a separate rules package measure that threatens to rig the legislative process in favor of trickle-down tax policy, until the beginning of this week when critics began to decry the change.

<snip>

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[The Rabbi]

So the GOP wants honest accounting and for that we get the "throw grandma off the cliff."
Bernie Sanders just demonstrated why he will never ever be president. He is a dishonest class war baiting fuck.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Class war baiting! Outstanding but a wee bit too long for the bumper sticker. I predict that it doesn't take hold.

What does the Rabbi think of the policy change? Eleven million disabled Americans. Surely there is more to it than an attempt at "honest accounting".

 

[ninja007]

the Bernie Saunders? this guy?

Libertarian Today Leftist swindler Bernie Sanders and his fellow taxpayer-plundering socialists Tools of the thieving Fed tools of corrupt Big Media

 

[Politico]

So the GOP wants honest accounting and for that we get the "throw grandma off the cliff."
Bernie Sanders just demonstrated why he will never ever be president. He is a dishonest class war baiting fuck.

Agreed. He thinks there aren't already millions of disabled people being denied SS benefits.

 

[The Rabbi]

Class war baiting! Outstanding but a wee bit too long for the bumper sticker. I predict that it doesn't take hold.

What does the Rabbi think of the policy change? Eleven million disabled Americans. Surely there is more to it than an attempt at "honest accounting".

It's the mean nasty hateful members of the GOP denying sick disabled Americans food and medicine. Dont you read the DNC talking points?

 

[Stephanie]

Boy oh boy, lets just go bankrupt. what does Bernie care he made his already

Republicans just took over and back to the same ole fear mongering by the Dems. I guess why not it seems to work on quite few

 

[Star]

the Bernie Saunders? this guy?

Libertarian Today Leftist swindler Bernie Sanders and his fellow taxpayer-plundering socialists Tools of the thieving Fed tools of corrupt Big Media

Typical conservative/Republican responses - attack the messenger while offering nothing about the subject of the thread - yawn.

I don't know who JACK HANNOLD, the author of this letter to the editor is but-----but he nails the stealthy/sneaky Republican tactics to screw over the weakest among us.


In the new Congress, a stealth attack on Social Security: Letter

South Jersey Times Letters The Star-Ledger
January 11, 2015

To the Editor:
On Jan. 6, the first day of the 114th Congress, Republicans launched what might be called a stealth attack on Social Security. Instead of enacting immediate cuts, they rigged the rules so that clearly foreseeable circumstances will trigger disability benefit cuts late next year

<snip>

This was not a bill, but a new House rule that would allow any member to raise a "point of order" if the House considers a "clean" bill to fix a predicted shortfall by authorizing an internal re-allocation of Social Security funds.

Social Security is financially sound. But the Disability Insurance and Old Age and Survivors Insurance funds are legally separate, and the Disability Insurance fund will need a transfer from Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) fund in late 2016. Without it, Disability Insurance (DI) benefits will have to be cut by 20 percent. Such re-allocations have been done by routine legislation 11 times since Social Security Disability began in 1957, both from OASI to DI and vice versa.

But that new House rule would require any legislation allowing a fund transfer to include a change that "improves the overall financial health of the combined Social Security Trust Funds" — meaning either revenue increases or benefit cuts. And without a fund transfer, the Republicans will only cut benefits. They won't raise revenues by raising the ceiling on income subject to FICA.

Typical disability beneficiaries aren't the freeloading frauds of GOP mythology. Only 30 percent of DI recipients are under 50, and 30 percent are between 60 and 66 (they switch to OASI at retirement age). Most were blue-collar workers with relatively little education and no other significant financial resources.

The purpose of that new House rule "is to force us to look for a long-term solution for SSDI rather than raiding Social Security to bail out a failing federal program," explains rule co-sponsor Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY-23). "Retired taxpayers who have paid into the system for years deserve no less."

Raiding Social Security? With that kind of demagogic rhetoric — engendering suspicion of, and resentment toward, the disabled — Republicans like Reed are clearly seeking the support of OASI beneficiaries, many of whom voted Republican in 2014. But the GOP's "long-term solution" will inevitably include benefit cuts for those same OASI beneficiaries, too.

How cynical can you get?

JACK HANNOLD
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[Carib Gyal]

Anybody else think this was going to be another muslim murderers thread?

 

[Star]

Boy oh boy, lets just go bankrupt. what does Bernie care he made his already

Republicans just took over and back to the same ole fear mongering by the Dems. I guess why not it seems to work on quite few

Maybe states with high disability rates just have hard wired sicker DNA, or maybe they're sicker because of less environmental regulation or maybe people in states with high disability rates get injured more often because their states don't regulate worker safety, or maybe people that live in states with high disability rates put off taking care of their health issues because they lack health insurance, or maybe people in high disability states are disabled for all of the above reasons - and more.

But with the Republican attack on the weakest and most vulnerable among us, what we know for sure is people in mostly Republican states prove time and time again that they will vote against their own best interest.

Maybe they're still using lead in their paint?

Disabled beneficiaries aged 18–64 in current-payment status as a percentage of state population aged 18–64, December 2011
Disabled beneficiaries aged 18–64 in current-payment status accounted for over 4.6 percent of the population aged 18–64 in the United States. In three states, they represented less than 3 percent of the state population. The states with the highest rates of disabled beneficiaries—7 percent or more—were Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2011/sect01.html
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[The Rabbi]

There is no "Republican attack on the weakest among us." That is more class warfare kacky.

 

[Stephanie]

There is no "Republican attack on the weakest among us." That is more class warfare kacky.

you notice they have NO SHAME in using the "poor" people for their disgusting political agendas. That's worse than accusing Republicans of being a bully. Democrats=classless and bullies all rolled into one. I guess we can assume the call for civility has flew out their ass already. only took a month and a half. now resume to calling us names

 

[The Rabbi]

There is no "Republican attack on the weakest among us." That is more class warfare kacky.

you notice they have NO SHAME in using the "poor" people for their disgusting political agendas. That's worse than accusing Republicans of being a bully. Democrats=classless and bullies all rolled into one. I guess we can assume the call for civility has flew out their ass already. only took a month and a half. now resume to calling us names

Obama wanted to change the tone in Washington. This is probably not what people had in mind.

 

[Stephanie]

There is no "Republican attack on the weakest among us." That is more class warfare kacky.

you notice they have NO SHAME in using the "poor" people for their disgusting political agendas. That's worse than accusing Republicans of being a bully. Democrats=classless and bullies all rolled into one. I guess we can assume the call for civility has flew out their ass already. only took a month and a half. now resume to calling us names

Obama wanted to change the tone in Washington. This is probably not what people had in mind.

they just got pounded in the elections by first losing the House and then the Senate. and this name calling, lies mixed with FEAR mongering was part of the reason.

I hope the people learned a HARD lesson Living under this Obama regime and his party of radicals and Grubers, and NEVER give them control over us ever again

 

[blackhawk]

STPDD. Same talking points different day.

 

[Stephanie]

Bernie needs to retire. He seems to be suffering from dementia. We have to DEMAND term limits on the people.

 

[OKTexas]

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Bernie Sanders Exposes Republican Plot To Cut Social Security For 11 Million Disabled People
By: Jason Easley
Monday, January, 12th, 2015

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is warning that Republicans are plotting to cut Social Security benefits for 11 million disabled Americans through a rule change that would make it more difficult to fund the disability account.

In a statement, Sen. Sanders explained what the House rules change will mean for disabled Americans who depend on Social Security:
“Around 11 million Americans, including nearly 2 million children with a disabled parent, rely on Social Security to help keep them out of poverty,” said Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

A new House rule creates a legal obstacle course that would make it harder to shift funds from the Social Security retirement account, which has a big surplus, to the smaller disability account. Such transfers have been done routinely in the past under both Republican and Democratic presidencies, including four times under President Ronald Reagan.

Without a transfer to shore up the disability fund, Social Security Administration experts say the disability program will run short of money next year, and there will be only enough to cover 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

<snip>

The Republican rule change that would lead to more benefits cuts will only push millions of Americans with no source of income further into poverty. House Republicans are repeating a pattern of attacking those who most need assistance. Since they have taken over the majority, Republicans have tried to cut benefits for the unemployed, children, wounded veterans, the elderly, and the disabled.

<snip>

The Republican desire to remake America into an oligarchy knows no limits. Sen. Sanders is leading the charge against the oligarchs, and the economic future of millions depends on his warnings being heeded.
.

So you see no problem in robbing Peter to pay Paul? You can't ripoff one program to sustain another one without eventually destroying both and neither are particularly solvent, they say SS could start experiencing major problems in the next couple of decades, stealing from it now won't help.

 

[Star]

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Bernie Sanders Exposes Republican Plot To Cut Social Security For 11 Million Disabled People
By: Jason Easley
Monday, January, 12th, 2015

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is warning that Republicans are plotting to cut Social Security benefits for 11 million disabled Americans through a rule change that would make it more difficult to fund the disability account.

In a statement, Sen. Sanders explained what the House rules change will mean for disabled Americans who depend on Social Security:
“Around 11 million Americans, including nearly 2 million children with a disabled parent, rely on Social Security to help keep them out of poverty,” said Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

A new House rule creates a legal obstacle course that would make it harder to shift funds from the Social Security retirement account, which has a big surplus, to the smaller disability account. Such transfers have been done routinely in the past under both Republican and Democratic presidencies, including four times under President Ronald Reagan.

Without a transfer to shore up the disability fund, Social Security Administration experts say the disability program will run short of money next year, and there will be only enough to cover 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

<snip>

The Republican rule change that would lead to more benefits cuts will only push millions of Americans with no source of income further into poverty. House Republicans are repeating a pattern of attacking those who most need assistance. Since they have taken over the majority, Republicans have tried to cut benefits for the unemployed, children, wounded veterans, the elderly, and the disabled.

<snip>

The Republican desire to remake America into an oligarchy knows no limits. Sen. Sanders is leading the charge against the oligarchs, and the economic future of millions depends on his warnings being heeded.
.

So you see no problem in robbing Peter to pay Paul? You can't ripoff one program to sustain another one without eventually destroying both and neither are particularly solvent, they say SS could start experiencing major problems in the next couple of decades, stealing from it now won't help.

Acknowledging that Social Security insolvency is decade and decades away makes you smarter than just about every other rightwing/Republican on this M/B - good on you. Given that SS is solvent for the "next couple decades", how do you propose fixing it?

If you/Republicans choose to abolish SS, Dwight D, Eisenhower thinks you're "stupid", so you may want to consider Ronald Reagan's fix, raise taxes on the middle class and-----and if the mantra of former Republican Presidents of being stupid and/or raising taxes on the middle class doesn't appeal to you, how do you propose we fix SS in "next couple decades"?


"This bill demonstrates for all time our nation's ironclad commitment to Social Security. It assures the elderly that America will always keep the promises made in troubled times a half a century ago. It assures those who are still working that they, too, have a pact with the future. From this day forward, they have one pledge that they will get their fair share of benefits when they retire." ~ R. Reagan, April 20, 1983


"...anyone attempting to abolish Social Security is stupid." Dwight D. Eisenhower, November 8, 1954
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[Treeshepherd]

Al Gore pledged during his presidential bid to “veto any plan that takes money out of Social Security and uses it for any other purpose.” Then he sort of contradicted himself when he said he would keep SS fully funded but use any surplus to pay down the debt.

Were there any struggling cripples at the time? If so, was Gore a heartless monster for not pledging to not use SS funds to pay their rent?