bapifar01: Leading House Dems: Social Security still not on the table

Saturday 25 June 2011

Leading House Dems: Social Security still not on the table

Not knowing when to quit on the hugely unpopular ideas, House Republicans have introduced a Social Security privatization bill. This bill from and the re-emergence of possible Social Security cuts in the budget process as a result of AARP's kinda, sorta, maybe endorsement of cuts has leading House Dems ready to fight.

?You want a fight?? Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said during a press conference in the Capitol. ?If anybody in this building wants to take on Social Security ? privatize it, change the benefits by altering the consumer price index or by any other method ? know this: You?ve got a fight on your hands.?
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Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said the combination of Republican proposals to overhaul Social Security and Medicare benefits would hit seniors doubly hard.

?Seniors get the double whammy ? higher healthcare costs and deeper benefit cuts,? she said. ?It?s a bad formula for anyone.?

Republicans in both chambers have floated proposals in recent weeks to overhaul Social Security in the name of preserving the program and reducing deficits.

In the upper chamber, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is proposing to shave 1 percentage point from the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, which is designed to align Social Security payments with inflation.

House Dems are also pushing back hard against an idea floated by both the White House and Sen. Chuck Schumer: extending they payroll tax holiday because of the threat it poses in undermining Social Security's sole funding source. "You can provide tax relief that would serve as a stimulus, without touching the revenue stream dedicated to Social Security," Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said. Meeting Social Security obligations with this revenue stream tightened, Garamendi pointed out, would just mean more borrowing, "You simply add it to the deficit."

They are still pushing for the payroll tax cap to be lifted: "Someone who earns $50,000 a year [is] paying 6 percent, but someone who?s earning $5 million per year is paying less than 1 percent," Deutch said. That would solve that basic problem of fairness, but it would also bring the necessary revenue to keep Social Security solvent.