Social Security Hearings this week

[TayTay]

Big doings on the Social Security front this week. (Oh, and Frist might trigger the nuclear option in the Senate by Thursday, but I digress.)

The * Admin is determined to go ahead with their worthless and politically doomed plan to dismantle Social Security in America. Since the Bamboozalapollooza tour for the Idiot King has been an embarrassment, he has decided to drop kick this political football into the Senate and make the Rethug Senators come up with a way to make this turd of a program work. Sen. Charles Grassley from Iowa chairs the Finance Committee which has responsibility for funding federal programs and he has decided to hold hearings to tout how wonderful private accounts will be for America. (And try not to be struck dumb with lightning from Gawd for even suggesting that lie.) It goes without saying that Sen. John F. Kerry is a member in good standing with excellent questioning skills on this committee.

Sen. Grassley has put 3 committee hearings on the boards this week to support his draft of a Social Security program. (Bear in mind this critical fact: Grassley's plan is fashioned by Rethugs only. There has been NO Democratic input into this at all. This is yet another instance of Rethugs trying to cram a program down the throats of Dems.) Here is the announcement for the first meeting from the Senate Finance Comm website: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearings.htm

Proposals To Achieve Sustainable Solvency, With and Without Personal Accounts

April 26 , 2005, at 10:00 a.m. in 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Member Statements:
Charles Grassley, IA
Max Baucus, MT

Witness Statements:

Panel I

Mr. Robert Pozen, Chairman, MFS Investment Management, Boston, MA

Mr. Michael Tanner, Director, Project on Social Security Choice, Cato Institute, Washington, DC

Mr. Peter Ferrara, Senior Fellow, Institute for Policy Innovation, Director of the Social Security Project, Free Enterprise Fund, Washington, DC

Mr. Peter R. Orszag, Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC

Ms. Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security, National Women's Law Center, Washington, DC

I commend these hearings to your attention. They might be every bit as interesting as the Foreign Relations Comm hearings were over John Bolton. (And those were laugh-a-minute thigh-slappers, Right?)

[TayTay]

1. Hearing #2: Lies we tell minorities

This hearing is designed to showcase how much the Rethugs care about African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups in America. The REthugs feel that if they can get minority communities on board with the plan they can use that to cut Democratic opposition out at the knees. Here is the menu: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing042805a.htm

Building Assets for Low-Income Families


April 28 , 2005, at 10:30 a.m. in 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building


Member Statements:
Charles Grassley, IA
Max Baucus, MT

Witness Statements:

Panel I

The Honorable Robert Carroll, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of Treasury, Washington, DC

Mr. David Malpass, Chief Economist, Bear Stearns, New York, NY

G. Scott Harding, President & CEO, F.B. Harding, Inc., Rockville, MD

Mr. Leonard E. Burman, Senior Fellow and Co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, The Urban Institute, Washington, DC

I can't wait for this one. Given how the * Admin has done everything in it's power to delete or underfund programs designed to help minorities achieve equal access to loans, housing, health care and other goodies, this should be a real howl. Sen. Kerry should be able to go to town on this one.

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2. 3rd Hearing: Lie to me about savings and investments

Encouraging Savings and Investment: Stay the Course or Change Direction


April 28 , 2005, at 3:00 p.m. in 628 Dirksen Senate Office Building


Member Statements:
Charles Grassley, IA
Max Baucus, MT

Witness Statements:

Panel I

Ms. Michelle Simmons, Women's Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) account holder, Norristown, PA

Ms. Dorothy Beale, Women's Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) account holder, Philadelphia, PA

Mr. Chuck Palmer, President of Institue for Social and Economic Development (ISED), Des Moines, IA

Dr. Victoria Gonzales-Rubio, Principal of Delmar Harvard Elementary School, St. Louis, MO

Mr. Ric Edelman, Edelman Financial Services, Inc., Fairfax, VA

Mr. Mark Ernst, Chairman - President and Chief Executive Officer of H&R Block, Kansas City, MO

Dr. Michael Sherraden, Author of Assets and the Poor, Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Dr. Trina Williams Shanks, Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Mr. Fred Goldberg, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, and former Commissioner of the IRS under President George H.W. Bush, Washington, DC

Mr. Ray Boshara, Director, Asset-Building Program, New America Foundation, Washington, DC

Mr. David John, Research Fellow, The Heritage Foundation, Washington, DC

Again, the prupose of these hearings is to lavish praise on the Rethug plan to demolish Social Security. Private accounts are a terrible idea. No amount of lipstick on this pig of a program is going to change that.