GOP Super Committee Member Pledges Not To ‘Chop’ Entitlement Benefits Or Raise The Retirement Age

[jefferson_dem]

GOP Super Committee Member Pledges Not To ‘Chop’ Entitlement Benefits Or Raise The Retirement Age
By Marie Diamond on Aug 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm



Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) surprised many when he appointed a Republican widely perceived as a moderate, Rep. Fred Upton (MI), to serve as one of six GOP members on the congressional “super committee” tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit savings by November. Conservatives are worried that Upton will not toe the GOP’s hardline stance against taxes because he’s expressed a willingness to raise revenues by eliminating tax loopholes.

Yesterday at a public forum in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Upton gave another glimmer of hope that he would be willing to divorce himself from Tea Party dogma to do what’s right. Upton came out as a strong defender of entitlement programs, and vowed to protect current beneficiaries in the super committee’s deliberations:

UPTON: It’s critical…for people that are benefiting today from Medicare and Social Security, that they do not see benefit reductions. It’s awfully hard to tell someone…who might be 82 that they’ve got to go back to work because their benefits are going to be chopped. That’s not going to happen. We’re not going to let that happen.

Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/08/16/296593/gop-super-committee-member-pledges-not-to-chop-entitlement-benefits-or-raise-the-retirement-age/

[Raven]

1. Well, throw that guy out of the GOP! What is he thinking??? Of course

Granny has to go back to work. Shared sacrifice, you know. :-)

[newfie11]

2. "protect current beneficiaries "

Is the key phrase here.

[EC]

4. Exactly what I was going to point out

Even Paul Ryan says that...he guarantees no one will be hurt with his fix to Medicare, because it doesn't affect anyone that is currently on it...


I can't believe that reporters don't know the difference, so they are out and out aiding and abetting these pols.

[scheming daemons]

5. EXACTLY! If you're 58 or younger, you're "on the table" with Upton

[abelenkpe]

12. 58 or younger? No problem ripping you off after a lifetime paying in

To be fair I have dem relatives who are OK with that too. Of course they are in their late sixties....

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Yep. They believe that everyone thinks like a Republican - that if

it doesn't directly affect THEM, then they don't care. They think of the senior voting block and try to reassure them, believing that today's seniors are willing to vote away their childrens' benefits (because that is what THEY would do).

[ret5hd]

3. chop...cut...slash...

different words with different "intonations".

[DJ13]

6. for people that are benefiting TODAY from Medicare and Social Security

More DC doublespeak.

[leveymg]

7. Thanks to Obama's bonehead Compromise offer, the GOP is going to posture as SS/Med saviors.

And, a lot of low-info voters will buy it, even though it's a lie.

Thanks for your gift to the Democratic Party, Barack. You tried to trade away probably our most potent weapon - the New Deal.

[ClarkUSA]

17. The idea was Mitch McConnell proposal, the one Bernie Sanders endorsed.

Would you rather President Obama have defaulted than compromised?

[leveymg]

25. Bernie voted No. Obama didn't have to offer Catfood Commish2, SS/Med cuts as part of the deal

Sanders wrote this about why he voted No to the Deficit Deal in his NYT OpEd:

While thousands of Vermonters struggle to recover from the most severe recession since the Great Depression, the president signed a $2.5 trillion deficit-reduction deal, brokered by congressional Republicans, that is grotesquely unfair – and bad economic policy. At a time when the wealthiest people in this country are doing extremely well and corporate profits continue to soar, this deal shields America’s rich and powerful from paying one penny more for deficit reduction. Meanwhile, working families, children, the sick and the elderly will shoulder the entire burden.

[DEdem]

8. The retirement age should be raised.

This is a no-brainer. a gradual increase in the retirement age to 70 by 2040 is in order.

[ret5hd]

10. especially if you're a miner or a steelworker or a roofer or a ditch digger.

stupid laborers...too stupid to get a real job before they broke down.

[DEdem]

13. A 65 year old coal miner is in much better health today than a 50 y/o miner was in the 1930's.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PVnRT]

22. I see you don't have your tombstone yet

I guess "healthier" means that they don't have chronic back problems, lung problems, and other conditions until they reach 65 now. But they can keep working a few more years, if it lowers YOUR taxes, right?

[DEdem]

23. Well, NO.

Even raising the retirement age to 70 by 2040, we would still need to raise the payroll tax by about 1/2 of 1 percent to make SS solvent far into the future. Your accusation is so juvenile as to be undeserving of further rebuttal.

[AndyTiedye]

20. Lower the Minimum Retirement Age. There Aren't Enough Jobs for Those who Want to Work

This would require more funding for Social Security and Medicare, not less, of course,
but there would be savings from welfare, unemployment insurance and Medicaid to the
extent that those who would retire are using those programs now.

[rurallib]

9. Fred Upton is a moderate? WTF?

As noted they ONLY promise to those who already have it AND
why would anyone ever trust ANYTHING a republican said?

[Politicalboi]

15. They should start with the

20 or 30 year olds and raise the age to 70 for them.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DEdem]

19. I agree.

[woo me with science]

18. Unrec. for misleading headline. nt

[PVnRT]

21. The same Fred Upton who flip-flopped about CFLs?

Yeah, I'll believe this when I see it.

[golfguru]

24. The critical words are " benefiting today from Medicare and Social Security"

That means currently retired on social security & medicare are safe.
That leaves open all younger people? Am I reading this right??

[LetTimmySmoke]

26. But if you're under 55, your benefits will be slashed to make room for more corporate tax breaks.