New GOP Plan Would Save Military From Sequestration By Cutting Social Security
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- A pair of House Republicans have a new bill that would spare the military from sequestration by cutting the Social Security benefits of many Americans who already experience painful federal budget cuts.
Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) are introducing the Provide for the Common Defense Act on Tuesday. The legislation would cancel out the next two years of sequestration cuts for the Pentagon by putting a heavier burden on senior citizens and federal workers.
Specifically, the plan would change the way cost-of-living adjustments are calculated for Social Security, using a measurement called "chained CPI." The result would be less money in the pockets of beneficiaries. It would also increase federal employee retirement contributions and means-test Medicare premiums. Critics of means-testing argue that such a change would undermine the popularity of the program, turning it into welfare for lower-income Americans.
"Washington has a spending problem, but incessantly and mindlessly cutting national security will not get us out of our fiscal mess," said Lamborn in a statement. "President Obama must realize that out-of-control entitlement spending is drowning our country in debt. Our bill cancels national security sequestration for two years by enacting a few Obama-endorsed reforms that will actually produce over $300 billion in savings over ten years. Two-thirds of the savings will go toward debt reduction."
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/military-sequestration_n_4377517.html
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)cutting ss and farm subsidies.....go luck getting reelected
RC
(25,592 posts)He came out for the CPI. Or is Obama's plan totally different because he didn't announce his Chained CPI plan as helping the military?
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)Fuck the working class and the retirees.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)WowSeriously
(343 posts)quakerboy
(13,920 posts)Do we pay it directly to our MIC, or do we divert it to other programs.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)ck4829
(35,077 posts)jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Grover Norquist, to whom all our GOP elected officials are sworn to obey, doesn't accept using spending cuts for anything but paying for tax cuts. And besides, Social Security has its own funding source.
Let's play with this for a minute. The goal of any true-believer right-winger is to eliminate Social Security as part of a broader program to bring us back to the days when your parents lived with you after they turned 65. Since Social Security DOES have a separate tax that pays for it, eliminating Social Security would also eliminate the justification for that tax. And as everyone on both the left and the right can attest, Congress really does like having that pool of money to use. So let's see...we chop all the social spending that is funded by its own tax revenue stream, plus the taxes that fund it...at that point, when it's painfully obvious that the reason the budget is so far out of whack is spending on Perfect Weapons. (What's a Perfect Weapon? One that has at least one part made in each of our 435 congressional districts, of course, and in such a way no commercial-off-the-shelf part can ever be substituted.)
W T F
(1,148 posts)LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,586 posts)Everytime the GOP (and some Dems, unfortunately) call SS an "entitlement" an angel loses its wings.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)If you can't give our retirements to you client banksters, you don't want anybody to have it even though it's our money.
Also, we can save money on the military by bringing more troops home from duty in the empire's colonies. I know it's disappointing to you, but we Americans don't make very good imperialists.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)We could repeal every Bush Tax Cut For The Wealthy!
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)It's certainly worth talking about.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Third Way is trickle down all the way.
WowSeriously
(343 posts)Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)cave in after cave in. He says he knows now that he can't make deals with "Political Terrorists." He says he's out of wimpy mode now and ready to be a real FDR type democrat. We shall see. You can't play chess with people who can't get past mumbely peg.
WowSeriously
(343 posts)He's not in FDR mode, either. That ship sailed in 2010. The best we can hope for now is that nothing gets done regarding the Grand Illusion Bargain.
Faryn Balyncd
(5,125 posts)Chained CPI and "means testing" of Medicare (which in reality means raising rates for the middle class) must be defeated.
"Means testing" which would require the middle class to pay more for Medicare will destroy the bi-partisan support for Medicare from the masses which is a big reason why politicians of both parties have so far not achieved these cuts. "Means testing" must be defeated if we are not to undermine the long term support for Medicare as an earned retirement benefit and not as a welfare program which would not receive such continued support.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)to the corporations that finance the republican candidates re-election campaigns. That would make entirely too much sense. Lets stick it to the poor, the sick and the elderly.
GoldenOldie
(1,540 posts)The use of the term Military when in fact they are actually wanting more and more funding for Private Corporate Contractors. The actual boots on the ground/uniformed troops, are actually getting less funding and promisedcontracted support. Privatization of our citizen military is the biggest financial boondoggle that this Nation has ever seen. Trillions of dollars have been wasted and outright stolen by the very same Corporate thugs who swore to uphold the contents of the contracts. This is the Defense which General/President Eisenhower warned us of.....The Military Complex. The Pentagon is no longer occupied by USGovernment Civilian Employees but Corporate Lobbyists and their low waged employees at unbelievable costs to We the People.Congress and Corporate heads use the term Military to make us believe that this funding is required by our brave troops ..
Journeyman
(15,036 posts)rgbecker
(4,832 posts)8 trillion as in $8,000,000,000,000.00
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)That's the way they do it.
Way past time to wake up.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)-p
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)Pete Peterson, the Repuke House, all the media talking heads who are telling us we must, absolutely must cut Social Security and Medicare.
sakabatou
(42,158 posts)As if we're not spending enough.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Lovers of blood and death.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)keeping taxes low on the wealthiest!
As repayment, you're invited to go @$!# yourself. With barbed wire. Stupid @$!#ers.
Regards,
America's Republicans and Third Way
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)Under sequester rules money cannot be transferred from one area to another. Yes, they could pass chained CPI but those savings cannot be transferred to the Defense Department. Also, Medicare already has means testing built in. Now they could change the levels, add new levels or increase the size of the penalty. This is from memory but it seems like the first increase kicks in at $85,000 and the 2nd at $134,000 -- it could be tied to inflation so the amounts could be a little higher today. I got hit by that in my first year of retirement because it was based on the prior years income that was before I retired and well over the $85,000 threshold. I was able to avoid it by providing current income figures that brought me well below that amount.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... just what is it the defense budget is defending?
This is not going anywhere.
Jimbo S
(2,958 posts)It is not a ponzi scheme.
It is an annuity program.
mitty14u2
(1,015 posts)Paul Ryans Social Security plan: privatization
http://underthemountainbunker.com/2012/08/12/paul-ryans-social-security-plan-privatization/
Oh no lets call it "Personal Retirement Accounts:
Privatize Social Security? In hard times all money diverted to private accounts would be spent by a enormous amount of people leaving them in a back to the future, pre-depression era, the old will be demoralized to die as soon as possible leaving room for the young and dumb to run things, killing off the old and wise. A perfect society for the elitist, well educated to keep control, culling and exploiting at will.