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Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said at a recent town hall that lawmakers should discuss changes to Social Security “behind closed doors,” sparking criticism from Democrats and advocacy groups.
Ernst made the comments Saturday, according to a video posted by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge. The remarks began to receive wider attention after being reported by the liberal news website Iowa Starting Line on Wednesday.
“As various parties and members of Congress, we need to sit down behind closed doors so we’re not being scrutinized by this group or the other and just have an open and honest conversation about what are some of the ideas that we have for maintaining social security in the future,” Ernst told a town hall audience in Estherville, Iowa.
via The Hill.
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via twitter.
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Stop asking parents to sacrifice Social Security benefits for paid family leave.
The Cradle Act, introduced last week by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), would encourage new parents to accept federally-paid family leave in exchange for much-needed Social Security retirement benefits later.
However, two recent paid leave proposals — the New Parents Act from Senators Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney[2] and the CRADLE Act from Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee — fall short of this standard in important ways:
- Unlike the paid leave programs of several pioneering states (and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides for unpaid leave), both bills would provide paid leave only to parents caring for newborn or newly adopted children, leaving out workers who need to care for their own serious health issues or those of a family member.
- Instead of pooling risks and resources across the entire workforce, as the rest of Social Security and the state paid family and medical leave programs do, these bills would ask individual parents to bear the cost of their parental leave benefits by cutting the Social Security retirement benefits they would receive decades later. This would weaken Social Security’s near-universal social insurance protection by treating the program’s guaranteed benefits like a private account from which individuals could draw. Essentially, both bills ask parents to choose between their current caregiving needs and their future retirement security.
via CBPP.
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Stop asking parents to sacrifice Social Security benefits for paid family leave.
“There should be no trade-off between paid family leave and Social Security benefits,” says former Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare’s advisory board.
“The Cradle Act proposes the same kind of ‘I need it now’ trap that induces younger adults to withdraw money from their retirement plans when changing jobs. Later, they discover they have nothing left for old age.”
Sen. Joni Ernst wants to discuss changes to Social Security “behind closed doors.” A strategy for the GOP to hide their intentions in order to make benefit cuts.
Please sign our petition by clicking here.
Republicans in Congress have never been good at hiding their intentions to gut Social Security.
In recent years, GOP luminaries from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky down through Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin have talked about the need to slash “entitlements” because, you know, the cost of programs such as Social Security and Medicare is driving the federal deficit, leaving so little room for tax-cut handouts to the wealthy.
Now Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has added her voice to the discussion, with an added fillip. During a town hall appearance in her home state over the weekend, Ernst said members of Congress should hold discussions about Social Security “behind closed doors.”
via Los Angeles Times.
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Sen. Joni Ernst wants to discuss changes to Social Security “behind closed doors.” A strategy for the GOP to hide their intentions in order to make benefit cuts.
Please sign our petition by clicking here.
The next U.S. president and Congress will face a serious test: What to do, if anything, about the nation’s retirement crisis?
Americans aren’t saving nearly enough in their 401(k)s, while wide swaths of the workforce aren’t saving at all, because they don’t have access to a retirement plan. Social Security, meanwhile, faces a financial shortfall as the baby boomers enter retirement.
via Bloomberg.
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We agree, Congress should BOOST Social Security for all working Americans.
Do you agree? If you answered “yes”, then please sign our petition here.
![Earlier this week, Members of Congress and allies met to discuss Social Security and the GOP Congress’ manufactured crisis.
““Seniors, I stand with you all the way [on Social Security].”
- Rep. Jan Schakowsky
“We are in a crisis right now. A...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/93d9258801da499ce7712598d0be22b4/tumblr_njo11hjqsI1qd3gmvo1_1280.jpg)
Earlier this week, Members of Congress and allies met to discuss Social Security and the GOP Congress’ manufactured crisis.
“Seniors, I stand with you all the way [on Social Security].”
- Rep. Jan Schakowsky“We are in a crisis right now. A retirement crisis. Not a Social Security crisis.” - Rep. Jan Schakowsky
“Stop manufacturing a crisis with the Social Security disability trust fund.”
- Senator Bernie Sanders“This week anyone earning a million dollars a year will have paid 100% of their payroll taxes for 2015.”
- Max Richtman
Americans made significantly less money in 2012 than in 2000. That decline, as disconcerting as it is, would have been more than twice as bad if it weren’t for three New Deal era safety net programs that largely offset falling wages and vanishing interest income.
via Al Jazeera.
(With people saving less for retirement, Social Security will be even more important for retirees which is why Congress should BOOST benefits for all working Americans)
As if Americans’ Social Security retirement benefits were not already sufficiently modest, conservatives have come up with a new ploy to erode them under the guise of something positive: paid family leave. The Cradle Act, introduced last week by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), would encourage new parents to accept federally-paid family leave in exchange for much-needed Social Security retirement benefits later.
“You can take one, two or three months of parental leave and as a consequence of that, choose to delay your retirement date by two, four or six months,“ Senator Lee explained. Note the Senator’s use of the word “consequence.” Paid family leave should not entail “consequences” for new parents, least of all the sacrifice of their future retirement benefits.
The federal government should fund family leave. But why help new parents out in the early years only to penalize them as seniors?
Read more from our op-ed by clicking here.
To ease the retirement crisis, Social Security benefits must be strengthened rather than cut. For that reason, the National Committee has endorsed H. Res. 393, the resolution introduced by Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Doris Matsui and Patrick Murphy which supports boosting Social Security.
via NCPSSM.