Tag: Social Security

Abandoning Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility, Republican Leader Calls for Cuts to Social Security and Medicare to Pay for Trillion Dollar Tax Cut for the Ultra-Wealthy

‘At the end of the day, this is a question of priorities. The GOP continues to make it painfully clear that their first priority is to make the rich even richer, at the expense of the middle class.’

This morning, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg News what we’ve long suspected: the GOP’s only plan to address the ballooning federal deficit is to make deep and painful cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. His statement comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the deficit has reached a six-year high of $779 billion, due largely to the trillion dollar tax cut for billionaires and wealthy corporations the GOP pushed through earlier this year.

Over 900,000 Minnesotans rely on Medicare for their health care coverage, and one-sixth of all Minnesotans receive Social Security benefits.

“The hypocrisy of Congressional Republicans is stunning,” said DFL Chairman Ken Martin. “After years of hawkish attitudes about the federal deficit, Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis threw those principles overboard and decided passing tax cuts for special interest donors was more important than balancing the federal budget. Now they want us to believe that the only way to solve their manufactured crisis is to slash programs that millions of Minnesotans rely on. Continue reading “Abandoning Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility, Republican Leader Calls for Cuts to Social Security and Medicare to Pay for Trillion Dollar Tax Cut for the Ultra-Wealthy”

Dean Phillips Announces Endorsement by Social Security Works

Jon “Bowzer” Bauman Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia

Social Security advocate, Bowzer of Sha Na Na, travels to Minnesota to join Phillips at endorsement event in Excelsior

Excelsior, MN – Phillips for Congress today announced that Dean Phillips has earned the endorsement of Social Security Works. Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of the band “Sha Na Na” will join Phillips and area seniors at an endorsement event at the Conversation Cottage in Excelsior (478 2nd Street, Excelsior, MN) on Wednesday, October 3 at 9:00 AM.

Social Security Works is an organization that supports candidates who are committed to protecting and strengthening earned benefits like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and working to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Housley and Social Security: A Casual Disregard for Doing the Work for Minnesotans

Karin Housley has demonstrated a casual disregard for doing the work that Minnesotans expect of their U.S. Senator.  Case in point: her inability to explain how she would protect Social Security.

At her campaign launch in January, Housley claimed she was running “to make sure that we have Social Security and Medicare in the future.”

But in June — five months later – Housley was asked on KSTP’s At Issue what policies she would pursue to make sure Social Security and Medicare remained solvent. She was unable to name a specific policy and said, “we have to really take a good hard look at it” and “I would really have to look into it and look at everything that’s out there.”

Then in late August – seven months after her campaign launch — Housley was asked the same question by the Star Tribune. Again, she was unable to name any specific proposals or ideas she supports to protect social security – blaming “proposals out there that have not been put in front of me” and saying, “I haven’t sat down to look at any of them, because I haven’t seen them.” She was later caught off-mic laughing about how she need to “brush up” on Social Security.

Bottom Line: This is more than Housley not knowing how to answer a question. This is a refusal to do the work so you can solve problems  – something that Minnesotans expect out of a U.S. Senator.

Donald Trump wrongly says Social Security and Medicare are stronger

The following article by Jon GReenberg was posted on the PolitiFact website September 6, 2018:

President Donald Trump is rejecting the image of policy chaos and bitter staff infighting captured in the latest book by Washington Post editor Bob Woodward.

At a meeting with Kuwait’s leader Sheikh Al-Sabah, Trump called the book “fiction” and said in contrast to what it describes, no administration has gotten more done on tax cuts, deregulation and the courts than his. And the accomplishments don’t end there.

“We’re saving Medicare,” Trump said Sept. 5. “The Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making it stronger. We’re making Social Security stronger. We’re making our whole country stronger. So all you have to do is look at the achievements.”

View the complete article here.

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Karin Housley Doesn’t Think Social Security is Something to Be Knowledgeable About

From the September 6, 2018 morningtake e-newsletter:

MNSEN: via the MN DFL, VERBATIM: “In an alarming and deeply concerning interview with the Star Tribune, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Karin Housley said that she did not have or know of any proposals to preserve and protect Social Security, which provides economic security to millions of Minnesotans and Americans, saying, “I haven’t sat down to look at any of them. I haven’t seen them.” The exchange, which took place last week at the State Fair, raises the question whether Housley has thought at all about this critical lifeline for seniors and families…Then, later that day in an off-mic moment on AM1280, Housley can be heard mocking the exchange on Social Security, admitting, “Well I found the issues I need to brush up on” and then laughing after telling the AM1280 host that the Star Tribune wanted to know “How I would fix social security.”

Rep. Paulsen Voted to Steal Social Security’s $2.9 trillion surplus

The terrible “balanced budget amendment” DIDN’T PASS, but we can not ignore the fact that 233 Representatives in the House — including Erik Paulsen — voted to steal $2.9 trillion from Social Security’s surplus.

That’s OUR money and we need to vote them out in November. And, don’t forget to let your older family members know.

From Social Security Works.

As U.S. budget fight looms, Republicans flip their fiscal script

The following article by the Reuters Staff was posted on their website December 31, 2017:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of a conservative Republican faction in the U.S. Congress, who voted this month for a huge expansion of the national debt to pay for tax cuts, called himself a “fiscal conservative” on Sunday and urged budget restraint in 2018.

In keeping with a sharp pivot under way among Republicans, U.S. Representative Mark Meadows, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” drew a hard line on federal spending, which lawmakers are bracing to do battle over in January. Continue reading “As U.S. budget fight looms, Republicans flip their fiscal script”

Good news on Social Security and Medicare? Reports show just that BY DEA

The following column by Dean Baker was posted on the Hill website July 19, 2017:

Social Security and Medicare are the country’s two largest and most important social programs, which is why the release of the annual trustees’ reports usually get considerable attention. These are effectively report cards on the financial health of these two programs.

The release of these reports last week actually got relatively little attention, in part because of competition from other big news items, and in part because there was little change from the reports issued last year. However, at least in the case of the Medicare trustees report, the fact that there were no major changes should have been big news.

The reason that a 2017 Medicare trustees report showing pretty much the same financial picture as the 2016 Medicare trustees report (the projected shortfall is actually slightly lower in this year’s report) is newsworthy is that it’s a different group of trustees. Continue reading “Good news on Social Security and Medicare? Reports show just that BY DEA”

Fact Checker: White House budget director’s claim that Social Security disability is ‘very wasteful’

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website April 7, 2017:

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Host John Dickerson: “Entitlements, that’s where the big money is. The president has said he didn’t want to touch Medicare, but he seems to be revising his thinking on that.”

Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney: “Well, I think the promise was he wasn’t going to affect anybody and we haven’t with this budget. Keep in mind what this budget is. This is just the discretionary spending part of the budget, which was a necessary first step.”

Dickerson: “But he might look at future retirement — future Medicare recipients?” Continue reading “Fact Checker: White House budget director’s claim that Social Security disability is ‘very wasteful’”

Rising Earnings Inequality Is Taking a Mounting Toll on Social Security

The following article by Rachel West and Rebecca Vallas was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 16, 2017:

For more than 80 years, the Social Security system has been at the heart of economic security for millions of American workers and their families. Of the nearly 60 million Americans who receive Social Security today, roughly 3 in 5 seniors and 8 in 10 disabled workers rely on the program’s modest benefits for most of their family income. And with the United States facing an impending retirement crisis at the same time that most American workers have seen their wages stagnate and job stability decline, Social Security will become even more vital for families in the coming years. Continue reading “Rising Earnings Inequality Is Taking a Mounting Toll on Social Security”