Category: Social Safety Net

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Elections Fox News GOP Social Safety Net

WATCH A Fox News Host Call Rick Scott Out For Lying About His Plans To Kill Social Security

Earlier this month, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) who serves as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, laid out an 11-part plan that would drastically cut social programs and raise taxes on the poorest Americans.

One of the programs that Scott’s plan would “sunset” is Social Security, which is often referred to as the third rail of American politics; touch it and you die.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Scott was asked about his plan by host John Roberts:

“That would raise taxes on half of Americans and potentially sunset programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Why would you propose something like that in an election year?”

Rather than respond, Scott tried to weasel his way out of actually discussing the specifics of his plan:

“That’s, of course, the Democratic talking point.”

But Roberts was having none of Scott’s dissembling, noting:

“No! It’s in the plan! It’s in the plan!”

The senator then began trying to dig his way out:

“Let’s think about reality for a second.”

Roberts interjected:

“But, Senator, hang on. It’s not a Democratic talking point. It’s in the plan.”

Scott:

“Also in the plan, it says we ought to every year to talk about exactly how we’re going to fix Medicare and Social Security. No one that I know wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security. But what we’re doing is we don’t even talk about it. Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years.”

Flailing badly and trying desperately trying to recover, Scott concluded with this bit of tripe:

“I want to change this country. The woke left controls everything! We’ve got to win.”

The woke left? That the best you got, Rick? If so, you might want to go ahead and concede the 2022 midterms right now.

Here’s the video from Fox News:

Categories
Donald Trump Social Safety Net The Trump Adminstration

Mnuchin Accidentally Confirms That Donald Trump Has Plans To Cut Social Security

Shortly after he announced he was running for president in 2015, Donald Trump swore he would never cut Social Security, declaring:

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican’s going to cut, and even if they wouldn’t, they don’t know what to do because they don’t know where the money is. I do. I do.”


And yet in early March when he appeared on Fox News for a town hall meeting, Trump had this to say on the matter of entitlements such as Social Security:

“Oh, we’ll be cutting. We’re also going to have growth like you’ve never seen before.”

A day later, when he realized he was running for reelection and needs the votes of senior citizens, Trump tried to walk back what he said the night before, tweeting out this denial:

But as it turns out, if we’d been listening more closely a month earlier when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin testified before the Senate Finance Committee, we’d have known that Social Security was on the chopping block.


Asked by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) about the White House’s budget for fiscal year 2021 and the massive cuts over the next decade in Social Security, Mnuchin tried desperately to call those cuts something else. He said:

“I believe it’s not a cut, it’s a reduction in the rate of increase. And it’s not to the benefits of people on Social Security.”

The Nevada senator was having none of Mnuchin’s double talk, telling him:

“If that is not a cut, then I would love to talk to you about what it is this administration values and what they see, how these groups and important individuals in our communities are being affected. My concern is this administration says one thing, but their actions are just the opposite.”


Alex Lawson, executive director of progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, says both Mnuchin and Trump are lying:

“When Steve Mnuchin or any other politician says that a ‘reduction in the rate of increase’ is different than a benefit cut, they are shamelessly lying. If Social Security benefits were to stay flat every year, they would quickly begin losing value due to inflation. We need to make annual cost-of-living adjustments more generous, not less.

“Any ‘reduction in the rate of increase’ would lead to benefit cuts.”

If Trump wins a second term in office, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will be cut to the bone. As Trump himself confessed behind closed doors when he met with then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and was asked about slashing entitlements:

“From a moral standpoint, I believe in it.”

The most immoral man to ever hold the office of president is coming for the benefits you worked decades to earn. And the only way we can stop him is at the ballot box.

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Donald Trump Social Safety Net

Trump Looking To Slash Social Security Benefits With A Controversial Executive Action

While it was established a long time ago that Donald Trump is a complete and utter asshole who only cares about himself and will screw over anyone to get his way, a new plan from the current president is perhaps the lowest he’s sunk so far.

Trump is about to cut Social Security benefits to millions of Americans, and he might be able to do so without getting the approval of Congress.


Salon reports that Trump will make his raid on Social Security via what’s known as the chained Consumer Price Index (CPI):

“Last week, the Trump administration revealed that it is planning to employ the so-called chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) in a way that does not need congressional approval. ‘Chained CPI’ might sound technical and boring, but anyone who has closely followed the Social Security debate knows better. It has long been proposed as a deceptive, hard-to-understand way to cut our earned Social Security benefits.”


Without getting too far into the weeds, here’s how using Chained CPI works:

“Social Security’s modest benefits are automatically adjusted to keep pace with inflation. If not adjusted, those benefits will erode, slowly but inexorably losing their purchasing power over time. These annual adjustments are already too low, but they are better than no adjustment at all. The chained CPI would make these adjustments even less adequate.”


However, while Trump thinks he can get away with this clear cutback to Social Security and other social welfare programs (the CPI change would also impact Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance), his end run around Congress may not be accomplished if all of us let our representatives know we won’t stand for this kind of blatant stealing from both retirees and those who are most in need of assistance to afford the basics of food and shelter. That might cause such a ruckus that Trump will back down, especially with an election just months away.

If we don’t act, millions of Americans are about to see a drastic cut in their benefits. And then Trump and his GOP allies can use your money to help pay for the tax cut they gave to themselves and their rich friends.

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Donald Trump Elections Healthcare Social Safety Net The Trump Adminstration

Trump’s ‘Second-Term Project’: Slash Social Security To Pay For His Massive Tax Cuts

In just three and a half years, Donald Trump has managed to destroy nearly everything that it took decades to build in this country, and now it appears that he has even more dangerous ideas if he happens to win a second term in office.

Just recently, the New York Times reported that as a result of the GOP tax scam bill that cut taxes on the biggest corporations and richest Americans, the the federal budget deficit will surpass $1 trillion in 2020. That’s in addition to the $1 trillion the tax cut has already tacked onto the long-term national debt.


To alleviate the ballooning deficit and debt, right-wingers and conservatives are suggesting that massive cuts to social programs are needed, and they have specifically noted that Social Security and Medicare are ripe for the picking. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) informed the Times:

“We’ve brought it up with President Trump, who has talked about it being a second-term project.”

That matches reporting from the Washington Post, which also says Trump has big plans to slash the budget by going after the two main entitlements, Medicare and Social Security:

“Trump’s advisers say he will be better positioned to crack down on spending and shrink or eliminate certain agencies after next year, particularly if Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives.”


All of this is a dream come true for conservative and libertarian groups who for years have been urging that entitlements be cut to the bone, no matter the consequences for senior citizens or the disabled:

“Conservative groups—which largely supported Mr. Trump’s tax cuts—have pushed Congress to cut future deficits by reducing benefits for federal health care and retirement programs, like Medicare and Social Security. ‘Something must be done soon,’ the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks said in a news release on Wednesday, ‘and that means taking a hard look at mandatory spending, the root cause of the United States’ fiscal woes.'”


The stakes in 2020 could not be clearer. If you value your future and the health and safety of tens of millions of your fellow Americans, the only sane choice is to vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. This country will not survive a second Trump term and GOP control of Congress.

The only “second-term project” Trump deserves is one that boots him from the Oval Office and into a prison cell.

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Elections Social Safety Net WTF?!

WATCH: Blackburn Says GOP Will Only Take Social Security Away From Those Who Don’t ‘Deserve’ It

If perhaps you were worried that Republicans, having blown a $1.5 trillion hole in the national debt, would now be looking to cut social safety net programs — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps — GOP Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN) has some good news for you worry warts: She and her colleagues only plan to cut the benefits of those who don’t deserve them.

Appearing on the Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures, Blackburn commented:

“We’re not talking about taking away benefits from those who deserve those benefits.”

Of course, Blackburn didn’t bother to explain how who is deserving would be determined, but knowing the minds of most Republicans, it’s safe to assume they would do so in a less than equitable or generous manner.

Addressing Medicare and Medicaid, Blackburn added:

“The goal is to make certain that those who deserve and need those benefits get everything that they’re entitled to. You do it by making the system more efficient, by innovating, utilizing healthcare technology.”

 
Imagine how efficient the system would be if the GOP managed to privatize both Medicare and Medicaid while also cutting millions of people off the rolls! Then they could truly realize their Ayn Randian wet dream of every American being on his or her own, with no assistance from the government. How glorious that would be! Paul Ryan has been plotting it since his college days, and he’s oh so close to making it a reality.

Ryan has called for entitlement reform, which is another way of saying slashing the safety net, in the 2018 Congress, but Senate Republicans appear to be cool to the idea, understanding that taking things away from voters in an election year can often be political suicide.

So, if you were wondering what the next move by the GOP would be, hold on to your wallet, because they’re getting ready to pick your pocket and kick you to the curb so they can make their rich campaign donors even wealthier.

Watch:

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org