Obama offer to slow Social Security payment growth sparks criticism from both parties

[Clementine]

The problem with social security is that the government couldn't keep it's hands out of it and too many people starting receiving it when they hadn't paid in.

If you want to know how Obamacare will go, just look at social security. The government cannot manage money. They have no business sense. They aren't equipped to run a lemonade stand. They are good at confiscating money and spending it fast. They couldn't keep the money people paid into social security safe, but then who thought they could guard something from themselves?

Welfare payments won't be affected, nor will other government pensions. They'll just target the senior citizens and retired military.

Obama offer to slow Social Security payment growth sparks criticism from both parties
Obama offer to slow Social Security payment growth sparks criticism from both parties

 

[jwoodie]

The problem with ALL of Obama's "cuts" is that they would occur AFTER he leaves office.

 

[Clementine]

He doesn't care. He wants to present a budget and appear like he is willing to make tough cuts.

 

[waltky]

Conservative group threatens NRCC Chairman Greg Walden over ‘chained CPI’...

Club for Growth threatens NRCC Chairman Greg Walden over ‘chained CPI’
4/11/13 - Angry about Walden's public opposition to even modest entitlement reform

The conservative group Club for Growth is searching for a primary challenger to Rep. Greg Walden, the leader of the House GOP campaign arm, after Walden broke with his party and criticized President Barack Obama over his “chained CPI” proposal. “We always knew Greg Walden had a liberal record, but he really cemented it with his public opposition to even modest entitlement reform,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement. “Greg Walden has voted for bailing out Wall Street, dozens of pork projects, and against cutting the spending from the Obama stimulus,” Chocola added. “He even voted against blocking taxpayer subsidies for Viagra.”

The Club for Growth called Walden’s lifetime score of 62 percent “dismal.” The group has added the veteran Oregon congressman’s name to their website “Primary My Congressman,” and labeled him a “RINO,” or Republican In Name Only.

Walden, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that Obama was “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors” with the plan, which would change the way Social Security cost-of-living adjustments are calculated.

His comments were in stark contrast to the rest of Republican leadership, who are supportive of chained CPI. “I’ve made it clear that I disagree with what Chairman Walden said,” House Speaker John Boehner said at a press conference Thursday. “He and I have had a conversation about it. This is the least we must do to begin to solve the problems in Social Security.”

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House Dem leaders balk at Obama's plan to cut Social Security
4/11/13 - House Democratic leaders pushed back Thursday against President Obama's decision to include Social Security cuts as part of his 2014 budget request.

Several top-ranking Democrats — including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Steny Hoyer (Md.), James Clyburn (S.C.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.) — questioned the wisdom of altering popular seniors benefits in the context of deficit reduction. "I think there was general consensus that all of that discussion should be something for the table on which we preserve Social Security and not really part of this budget," Pelosi said following a meeting Democrats held with budget experts on the White House plan to reduce future Social Security benefits by adopting a new way of calculating inflation. Obama's budget proposal has infuriated liberals for including the chained CPI proposal, which would change the formula used to calculate Social Security benefits and lower payments over the long term.

Most of pushback from rank-and-file members, she said, stemmed from concerns that the Social Security cut appeared to be "subsidizing ... lesser priorities" rather than bolstering the program itself. That could have negative consequences on future efforts to strengthen the program, Pelosi lamented. "What may happen, because of this debate, is that lines may be so drawn on this subject as part of the budget, that it might prejudice people as an approach," she added. "It's too bad it's in the budget."

Hoyer, for his part, declined to weigh in on the specific policy put forward by the president. But the Democratic whip echoed Pelosi's concerns about including Social Security reforms as part of the budget. "We need to deal with Social Security outside of the context of the budget and deficit debate," Hoyer said. Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, agreed. Asked if the budget is the proper forum for Social Security reform, the California liberal was terse. "No," he said. "Social Security has never added a penny to the deficit or the national debt," he added. "Why you would take $230 billion through the chained CPI by cutting benefits for seniors, veterans and the disabled? To a number of folks [that] doesn't make any sense."

Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, piled on. "I think Social Security should be a stand-alone piece of legislation that we all deal with in a way that's separate and distinct from the budget," he said. As a caucus, House Democrats met Thursday afternoon to discuss the chained CPI proposal with two budget experts: Robert Greenstein, the head of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Damon Silvers, director of policy for the AFL-CIO. Greenstein argued that the chained CPI could be structured in such a way that it would protect the oldest and poorest Social Security beneficiaries; Silvers warned that adopting the new formula — which adjusts inflationary updates for Social Security and a host of other federal programs — could harm beneficiaries. He urged Democrats to seek other ways of sustaining the program.

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