Huffington Post Says Obama Offered SS And Medicare Cuts In Return For Raising Debt

[mudwhistle]

Here it is over a year later and Huffington Post finally releases this story......that Obama offered cuts in Social Security and Medicare to Congress to get his latest increase of the debt-ceiling.

So taking that into account it seems like all of Obama's claims that Romney wants to cut Medicare rings extremely hollow. This to the White House is called "Strengthening" entitlements. Just another word for "CUTS".

September 15, 2012

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is pushing back against a Wednesday night report that the president is prepared to offer cuts to Social Security as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

"The story overshoots the runway," said a senior administration official. "The President said in the State of the Union that he wanted a bipartisan process to strengthen Social Security in a balanced way that preserves the promise of the program and doesn't slash benefits."

"While it is definitely not a driver of the deficit," the official added, "it does need to be strengthened."

The response, sent via email to The Huffington Post, provides a measure of assurance to Democrats who were taken aback by the abrupt news, broken by the Washington Post, that Social Security reform was now on the debt-ceiling table. Still, the devil is in the details, and the idea of "strengthening" the entitlement program remains the vague standard for reform.

Essentially, this story was released over a year ago by the Washington Post and now Huffington says the White House is denying it. Saying it overshoots the runway.

Why did they wait till an election year to deny it???

The story:

By Lori Montgomery, Published: July 6, 2011

President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.

At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation’s budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.


As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.

“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.” In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts - The Washington Post

 

[WillowTree]

Actually he did more than offer, he actually took 716 Billion dollars from medicare to fund obamaloneycare. errrrr,, you mean he wants more now?

 

[uscitizen]

Bush III.