Bernie Sanders: Tax Cut Deal Could Doom Social Security (VIDEO)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), still relatively fresh off a more than 8-hour stand against the current tax cut deal, which recently passed a key vote in the Senate, said on Monday that the framework of the plan could lead to a severe degradation of Social Security as we know it.

"I just spoke this afternoon to one of the leaders of one of the largest senior citizen organizations in this country and she worries very much that when you start diverting a hundred and twelve thousand dollars of payroll taxes away from Social Security, this could be the beginning," Sanders explained on MSNBC's "The Ed Show." "Our Republican friends like this idea and they will extend, I fear, that concept. It is not good for the future of social security."

Sanders also continued his criticism of the president and senators who were against tax cuts for the rich for not taking a more proactive approach to ensuring that the rates weren't extended.

"What the president in my view -- what all of us should have done -- is gone around the country, rallied the American people and said 'really, do you think we should be lowering the estate tax for the top three-tenths of one percent? Do you think we should be continuing low rates on dividend and capital gains taxes? Do you really think that billionaires need a tax break?'" Sanders said. "I think we win that debate and then we come to the table with the Republicans on the defensive, not us."

At a briefing Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to Sanders's filibuster and his repeated claims that President Obama didn't work aggressively enough to get what he wanted out of the tax cut deal.

"I think the president would be the first to agree that there are aspects of this that he doesn't like," Gibbs said. "He respects and understands the frustration of those who have a different viewpoint on the agreement."

Gibbs continued, saying that such "frustration" didn't constitute an actionable way forward on a tax plan.

"I think, at the same time, he believes it is important for our economy, it is important for middle class families to get [this] done," Gibbs said.

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Comments

[TruEngineHearing]

12:29 PM on 12/30/2010

I'm more angry with Obama about the Payroll Tax holiday than anything he has done in office. He has opened a small hole in every American citizen's security net - through which will pass the enemies of Social Security and Medicare. This is basic warfare 101, and Obama may well have lost our cause before the first shot was fired.

[jimpager]

10:44 PM on 12/15/2010

Out of the cesspool walks a hero. I wouldn't at all mind this guy as an independent liberal candidate in the general election. Pesident Sanders has a nice ring to it.

[OllaBarabolla]

03:08 PM on 12/15/2010

What the hell has happened to Obama? He went to Washington & got a douse of Republican
pod spores & this is the transformation we have to deal with. Definitely he is not the person
I voted for 2 years ago.

[GrumpyinAZ]

10:43 PM on 12/15/2010

I hadn't thought of that, best theory I've heard

[brux]

12:12 PM on 12/15/2010

This guy is the only guy left that has any integrity or honesty.

The best idea would have been to let the tax cuts lapse for all if we had to. Obama is a puppet.

[tootsie1]

08:55 PM on 12/14/2010

the wealthy aren't interested in this country anymore...their interest is elsewhere where they have invested their funds...they just want to suck all the juice here or whatever is left.

[murphysgirl]

08:02 PM on 12/14/2010

Bernie Sanders is my new hero..He can do no wrong in my eyes..

[robert7 james7]

07:15 PM on 12/14/2010

I just want to congradulate the Republican's and Wall Street for getting their man elected President.

[acorus]

07:14 PM on 12/14/2010

bernie is the real deal, the last person remaining who won't cave, and is willing and capable of standing up, thinking on his feet, and fighting this congressional virus of catering to special interests. this is crucial for our democratic survival, if you agree that he is evidencing what it takes to fight for the public good of the majority of americans, please sign petition for him to run for president as an independent, the only solution to this absurd and very dangerous stalemate of our democracy: at sanders for president.com

[SEXYLEO]

06:51 PM on 12/14/2010

Someone, somewhere better start understanding, the Democratic Party is in ruins. I'd give anything not to type this...BUT Barack and his advisors are the culprits. The party and followers have survived for centuries, because they've FOUGHT. With the exception of Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats are not worth, to quote Garner on another subject ".... spit.!!

Democrats were given gold in 2008 and they turned gold into excrement, faster than you could say 'klan-barbie'. Now they are 'sitting' around, yaking about the repugklan, when it is the democrats who folded in every squirmish with the repugs.

Most Democrats and Progressives almost want to barf, when the word 'bipartisanship' is uttered or written. I feel really awful, but I have to say this, Barack H. Obama, is not the man we all voted for....setting foot on Pennsylvania avenue, seems to have turned him into.....!

[GrumpyinAZ]

10:46 PM on 12/15/2010

I'm going with the POD OBAMA theory

[Yorksgal]

06:18 PM on 12/14/2010

It is only the poor and the middle class who have to worry about social security - once again the wealthy do not have to rely on this and so it does not matter to them.

I do believe this is the tip of the camel's nose inside the tent and once accepted it will never go back to what it was.

The more I hear about the GOP/baggers the more I believe they are truly selfish, greedy baw-stards who are only in it for themselves and heaven help those who try to get in their way.

[BKFactor]

04:17 PM on 12/14/2010

Great article that was published December 7, 2010

"Obama's "Tax Holiday": A Poison Pill For Social Security: | OurFuture.­org by Richard (RJ) Eskow, December 7, 2010

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010124907/obamas-tax-holiday-poison-pill-social-security

[KYliberal]

03:49 PM on 12/14/2010

Mr. Sanders made me proud when he stood up for all of us on the Senate Floor.

[DeaconJoey]

03:42 PM on 12/14/2010

I support the payroll tax holiday. The payroll tax is highly regressive. The burden falls entirely on those households who make under $74,000 a year. That's the poor and the lower middle class.

Until the payroll tax cap is lifted, and until the payroll tax is applied to capital gains, I say lower that tax as much as possible.

[rh97]

04:12 PM on 12/14/2010

How do you figure that people making under $74K/year get the entire burden of this cost? Everyone pays tax on their first $106,800 of earnings (in 2010) that that ceiling gets increased a bit each year. By the way, that is EVERYONE pays this payroll tax assuming they are legally on a business' payroll.

[Jeff1958]

05:00 PM on 12/14/2010

I pay 6.2% of my income (since I earn less than $106,800) to Social Security. Sean Hannity earns $30,000,000 and only pays about 0.022% of his income. THAT'S why it's regressive.

[brycecovert]

03:39 PM on 12/14/2010

Young people, listen up! Any threat to Social Security is a threat to our retirement. The payroll tax holiday doesn't economically have to threaten Social Security, but the politics around it might, and politicians are lining up against the program. The deficit commission also takes aim at the program and threatens to cut benefits for people our age. Not only does this mean a bleak old age, but it'll hamper our decisions now. Hard to be innovative or committed to social transformation when all you can think about it your finances. I wrote about just this topic, give it a read if you're concerned: http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/12/14/young-workers-face-bleak-old-age-29352/

[rifraf1001]

03:32 PM on 12/14/2010

Of course this deal could prove deadly to the future of Social Security, both in the long term and the intermediate term. It is not clear that this is not just what Obama has always wanted. Why else did he appoint such 'Democrats' as Bowles and Rivlin to make up his 'bipartisan' Deficit Reduction Commission?

[BKFactor]

04:19 PM on 12/14/2010

I am reluctant to agree; however, you have a point.