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Chief of Staff to President Obama, Jack Lew, was speaking to Seniors at the White House Seniors Summit.
Seniors, Retired Veterans, and the Disabled Will Pay Down Our Nation’s Debt
“If news reports today are correct, President Obama will soon renege on his commitment to keep Social Security out of the deficit debate, ignoring his campaign promise to millions of Americans that he would protect vital middle class programs like Social Security. By including a proposal in his 2014 budget to change the current cost of living allowance formula to a stingier and less accurate Chained CPI, the President has suggested an immediate benefit cut of $130 per year for the typical 65-year old retiree that would grow exponentially to a $1,400 cut after 30 years of retirement.
Contrary to the political spin, this chained CPI proposal isn’t a “tweak” or an “adjustment,” it’s designed to cut benefits and raises taxes, largely on the poor and middle class, totaling $208 billion over ten years. $127.2 billion of those benefits cuts come from Social Security with about $24 billion coming from VA benefits and civilian and military retirement pay cuts. Seniors will have received an average COLA of 1.3% over 4 years with no increase in two of those years. Arguing that is too generous shows how out of touch Washington is with the real-world economic realities facing average Americans. Adopting the chained CPI is nothing more than a political sleight of hand targeting our nation’s middle class and poor.
This budget is also reported to include more means testing in Medicare and less than half the new revenue requested in earlier budget negotiations. The President’s budget is not the balanced plan promised to Americans before November’s election and will leave millions of middle-class families in even worse shape than they are today.”…Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
National Committee members and supporters will be converging on the White House tomorrow to protest President Obama’s
budget plan to cut benefits for seniors, retired veterans and people with disabilities.
WHO: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA)
Max Richtman, NCPSSM President and CEO
Damon Silvers, AFL-CIO
Manny Hermann, MoveOn.org
Stephanie Taylor, Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Jim Dean, Democracy for America Chair
Roger Hickey, Campaign for America’s Future
Bonnie Grabenhofer, National Organization for Women
Former Obama for America Supporters & Seniors on Social Security
WHAT: Delivery of more than 1 million petition signatures directly to the White House
WHEN: Tuesday April 9, at 12:30pm (ET)
WHERE: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW - Washington DC (In front of the White House opposite of Lafayette Square)
For those who can’t join us in person, have no fear there’s another way our activists can truly make a difference. Please join our Congressional Call-in Day on Wednesday. One simple toll-free call will connect you directly to your members of Congress and Senate.
With more than 2 million petition signatures in hand, Social Security advocates joined members of Congress at the White House today to protest President Obama’s plan to cut benefits for seniors, retired veterans and people with disabilities.
Read More Here.
A top adviser to President Barack Obama on Friday slammed a House Republican maneuver aimed at forcing a showdown on Social Security as early as next year, signaling that it won’t fly with the White House.
via Talking Points Memo.
Related Reading:
Cutting Social Security Disability Threatens Millions of American Families.
Americans Push Back as Threat to Social Security & Medicare Grows.
ICYMI:
The White House has weighed in publicly for the first time on a House Republican move that could precipitate a fight over Social Security in the next two years.
The House voted last week to block a routine transfer of tax revenue between Social Security’s retirement and disability funds; the latter is projected to start being unable to pay full benefits in late 2016, sparking a crisis that advocates warn the GOP could use as leverage to push changes to the program. The rule says a transfer, which had been done 11 times previously under Democratic and Republican administrations, can be done only if there are cost-saving measures attached to it.
via Talking Points Memo.
Related Reading:
White House Rejects Social Security Shenanigans in the GOP-led House
“Generally speaking, the Administration strongly opposes any efforts to undermine Congress’ ability to reallocate funds between the Social Security retirement and disability trust funds,” a White House spokesperson told TPM, “as they have done with bipartisan support numerous times in the past in both directions.”
via Talking Points Memo.
Related Reading:
In a letter to the White House, NCPSSM President/CEO Max Richtman wrote:
“We applaud you for making middle-class mobility and economic equality one of your top priorities. Social Security helps to provide a lifetime of economic equality by insuring millions of Americans against the risks of retirement, disability and survivorship.“
Jack Lew: President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff
The Chief of Staff was addressing seniors about the Administrations efforts to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
New post up on Entitled You Know about the Seniors’ White House Summit. If you were following our twitter, you would have read some quotes from the event along with personal stories excerpts. Attendees had the pleasure of hearing from Jack Lew (President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff), Liz Fowler (Special Assistant to the President on Economic Healthcare Council), and many others.
Visit the following link to read all about it: http://www.ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/?p=2403
Delivering over two million petitions to the White House opposing cuts to Social Security benefits. NO to the Chained CPI!