A group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate came out against a rule Monday that blocks Congress from shifting Social Security funds to prevent a cut to disability insurance next year.
via Huffington Post.
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“This provision would make it more difficult to simply rebalance the two funds as has been successfully done 11 times in the past (reallocations have been made in each direction between the two funds) – forcing benefit cuts or tax increases to the Social Security program.”
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#democrats #senate #politics #social security #seniors #retirement #SSI #SSA #entitlements #retirement crisis #p2 #114th congress #congress #GOP
Senate Democrats are urging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to refuse to go along with the House GOP’s plan to force a battle over Social Security in the next two years.
In a letter sent Monday to McConnell, a group of Democrats called the Republican ploy “audacious.” The House adopted a rule last week that will prevent the routine transfer of tax revenue between the retirement and disability funds, upping the chances of a crisis for the latter in late 2016.
via Talking Points Memo.
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via twitter.
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Closing Social Security field offices can cause undue hardship for claimants, yet the Social Security Administration (SSA) has shuttered 67 of them since 2010. Seniors advocates have recently intensified their efforts to push back against field office closures. Those efforts may finally gain some teeth with the introduction of a bill by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.). Her ‘Maintain Access to Vital Social Security Services Act of 2018’ (H.R. 7160) would make it harder for the SSA to summarily close field offices.
Congresswoman Moore represents a district that includes the city of Milwaukee, where SSA closed a field office serving poor and mostly Hispanic residents last Spring – forcing them to seek assistance at an alternate location that’s hard to reach by public transportation.
The full House and the Senate Appropriations Committee have passed woefully inadequate funding plans for operating the Social Security Administration (SSA), which would substantially weaken customer service, hurting seniors and people with disabilities and hampering SSA’s ability to pay benefits promptly and accurately, as our updated report shows. SSA needs adequate resources to serve the public — and it’s very unlikely to receive them unless the White House and Congress reach a bipartisan agreement to reduce sequestration cuts, as they’ve done every year since 2014.
via CBPP.
Senate Democrats are spoiling for a fight with Republicans over Social Security, blasting House Republicans over the rule they adopted last week that will force a crisis in funding for the disability program in 2016. Congress has regularly allowed the Social Security program to reallocate funds between the retirement program and the disability program if one of the two was in danger of falling short. Last week’s new rule will prevent that transfer of funds, unless it is accompanied by some unspecified Social Security “reform.” Senate Democrats are gearing up for a big fight on this, and have put Senate Republicans on notice.
Scores of Democrats are calling on President Obama to champion an expansion of Social Security benefits for millions of seniors nationwide.
In a letter to be delivered to the White House Monday, the lawmakers say evolving trends surrounding employer retirement packages have put a financial squeeze on the nation’s retirees. They want the president to fill the gap by expanding Social Security.
via The Hill.
We agree. Congress needs to BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans. With individuals saving less and less for retirement, it’s important we expand benefits.
America’s Jump From Economic Crisis to Retirement Crisis.
Petition to the Leadership of the Congress of the United States: Boost Social Security Benefits NOW.
As the baby boom generation ages into its peak years for retirement and disability, the demands on the Social Security Administration (SSA) are reaching all-time highs. Yet Congress has cut SSA’s core operating budget by 10 percent since 2010, after adjusting for inflation.
These cuts hurt SSA’s service to the public in every state. The agency has been forced to shutter field offices and shrink its staff, leading to longer waits for service and a record-high disability appeals backlog. While the overall effect is a decline in service nationwide, the effects of the cuts vary considerably by state.
via CBPP.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare strongly objects to the scheduled closure of the Social Security Administration (SSA) field office in Arlington, VA, which currently serves some 25,000 seniors, people with disabilities, and many other beneficiaries every year.
If the office is shuttered as planned on June 21st, lower income Social Security and SSI (Supplemental Security Income) claimants may find themselves traveling up to two hours round-trip on public transportation to an alternate field office. Once they arrive at the nearest alternative location, they will experience an average two-hour wait (based on national data) in a crowded office where it can be difficult to locate a seat – an extra hardship for seniors and people with disabilities.
The 2017 funding bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved today would continue squeezing the Social Security Administration (SSA), which faces a record workload as the baby boomers age into their peak years for retirement and disability.
As our report explains, SSA’s core operating budget shrank by 10 percent from 2010 to 2016, after adjusting for inflation. It would shrink another 1 percent under the Senate bill, after inflation.
via CBPP.
Senator Romney’s legislation has no provisions to ensure that future #seniors’ earned benefits are adequate for the expenses they will face. #TRUSTact @RepJohnLarson https://www.ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/romneys-trust-act-is-back-again/
