Another Throwback Thursday – Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney once bragged about trying to convince President Trump that Social Security disability insurance was welfare.
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President Trump and Mulvaney on SSDI
OMB Director Mick Mulvaney: OK, disability insurance [SSDI].
President Trump: Tell me about that.
Mick Mulvaney: It’s welfare.
President Trump: OK, we can fix welfare.
Sure enough, the Trump budget plan that Mulvaney unveiled a few weeks later would cut about $70 billion in disability benefits over a decade, mostly through unspecified efforts to get recipients back to work.
via Politico
Disability Insurance is Part of Social Security Whether Mick Mulvaney
Likes It or Not.via Entitled to Know.
Michael Grunwald’s profile of Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for Politico starts with an extraordinary anecdote — seemingly sourced to Mulvaney himself — about how he tricked Donald Trump into violating his pledge to avoid proposing any cuts to Social Security.
According to Grunwald, Mulvaney — a very ideologically orthodox conservative who hates the idea of spending money on domestic social assistance programs — knew that Trump’s campaign promises were a problem for him. But he charged ahead anyway by bringing a big list of proposed cuts to a meeting at the Oval Office:
“Look, this is my idea on how to reform Social Security,” the former South Carolina congressman began.
“No!” the president replied. “I told people we wouldn’t do that. What’s next?”
“Well, here are some Medicare reforms,” Mulvaney said.
“No!” Trump repeated. “I’m not doing that.”
“OK, disability insurance.”This was a clever twist. Mulvaney was talking about the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which, as its full name indicates, is part of Social Security. But Americans don’t tend to think of it as Social Security, and its 11 million beneficiaries are not the senior citizens who tend to support Trump.
“Tell me about that,” Trump replied.
“It’s welfare,” Mulvaney said.
“OK, we can fix welfare,” Trump declared.via Vox.
Related Graphic:
Mick Mulvaney was just chosen as Trump’s Chief of Staff. He has a history of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare. He now has the ear of the President.
President Donald Trump’s budget chief said repeatedly this week that when people think of Social Security, retirement insurance is the only thing that comes to mind ― not disability insurance.
A “welfare program for the long-term disabled,” Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on Tuesday, “is not what most people would consider to be Social Security.”
Social Security is best known as retirement insurance, but plenty of people are aware that it’s also disability insurance. Forty-three percent of survey respondents said they knew someone who received disability or survivors’ benefits from Social Security, according to a 2010 poll by AARP. (Asked if they knew someone simply “on Social Security,” more than two-thirds said they did.)
via Huffington Post.
Related Reading:
- Trump Budget Shatters President’s Promise on Social Security, Medicaid.
- The President’s promise not to touch Social Security was officially revealed to be a sham today. Trump’s proposed 2018 budget slashes $64 billion from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Some media outlets have let the President off the hook by saying the budget does not cut Social Security benefits.
Did you miss Behind the Headlines this week?
We discussed:
- President Trump’s budget and it’s impact on seniors, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Medicaid.
- Medicare Advantage and it’s troubles in Florida.
- Mick Mulvaney and his attacks on SSDI.
You can watch it here.
In an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood on Tuesday, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney just couldn’t say whether President Trump would veto legislation to privatize Medicare. ‘Let [Congress] pass that and let’s talk about it,’ he demurred.
via Entitled to Know.
via Zeke Miller.
Related Reading:
- Disability Insurance is Part of Social Security Whether Mick Mulvaney Likes It or Not.
- The President’s budget director can’t seem to help casting doubt on the administration’s commitment to keep its hands off Social Security and Medicare.
President’s FY 2018 budget:
Cuts billions from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
OMB Director Mulvaney on cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance
- Reporter: Will any of those individuals who receive SSDI receive less from this budget?
- Mick Mulvaney: I hope so.
President Trump’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney:
- Advocated for years to cut Social Security and Medicare
- Called Social Security disability “welfare”
He now has the ear of the President.
A full Senate vote is expected sometime Thursday afternoon on Donald Trump’s pick for White House Budget Director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney. That means that Mulvaney’s nomination could come up for a vote just as a group of lawmakers and experts are speaking on the Hill in support of Social Security – and on the same day that millionaires stop paying their Social Security taxes.
The timing is interesting, since Mulvaney has been trying to cut Social Security for years.
via Huffington Post.
Related Reading:
- Scrapping the Cap: National Committee endorses Bernie’s new Social Security Bill; Marks the Day Millionaires Stop Paying payroll taxes.
- Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced landmark
legislation yesterday to keep Social Security solvent for the next six
decades — without cutting anyone’s benefits. The National Committee
endorses the bill, titled the Social Security Expansion Act, introduced
on the day when the average millionaire reaches the payroll tax income
cap of $127,000 per year.
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/