The White House Now Conceals Plan to Cut Social Security

Last Friday, the president told the nation that he offered a plan that would cut $650 billion from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Last night in his address to the nation, the president didn't want to 'bore' Americans with the details of his plan but threatened that Congress must accept a deal on the debt ceiling or seniors face the possibility that Social Security checks won't go out.

Curiously, the president didn't explain in his primetime address to the nation that 'the deal' he has been advocating cuts Social Security benefits and pushes back the retirement age. These changes are unwarranted and indefensible.

Social Security is 100% wholly funded up to the year 2036 without any changes whatsoever. It has no place in the debt ceiling debate at all. Furthermore, it is not the government's money but the money of the workers who have paid into the program their entire lives.

Threatening the withholding of Social Security checks to advance an agenda that includes cutting Social Security benefits is not befitting of the Democratic Party, it is not fair to the American people, and it represents a sellout of the interests of seniors.

I want to be supportive of the president. It would be easier to be supportive if the president's candor matched the level of his eloquence.

 

Follow Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RepKucinich

Comments

[dodecahedron64]

08:19 PM on 07/31/2011

They want us to work our whole life and then die, while they live their lavish lifestyles telling us cattle what to do. I'm sick and tired of these jokers. Who is going to be the next "Shay" and where do I sign up?

[MayaBeach]

10:01 PM on 07/27/2011

S.S. has NOTHING!! to do with the debt ceiling debate. As the article states, "Social Security is 100% wholly funded up to the year 2036 without any changes whatsoever." AND: "it is NOT the government's money but the money of the workers who have paid into the program their entire lives. "

Call your Congressional & Sen. Reps. & tell them you are NOT stupid & that you won't tolerate them stealing your money!!

[Patricia013]

09:14 PM on 07/27/2011

Obama is treading on very dangerous ground if his intentions are to cut social security benefits. He needs to get his hands OUT of that pot....its not HIS to manipulate - it belongs to the people of this country and has nothing to do with the deficit.

[James Wiswall]

06:15 PM on 07/27/2011

So glad I was not bored! NOT

[sleepdawg]

05:21 PM on 07/27/2011

Why would you still want to be supportive of this president, Dennis? He's done nothing but obfuscate his real agendas and then deride and block progressives. Become a vote of leverage, not a vote of capitulation.

[Percival93]

05:14 PM on 07/27/2011

Massively disappointing when he ran on a platform of transparency. We need to primary him!

[Sarad]

11:27 AM on 07/30/2011

I would be happy to replace him with either Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich. Obama owes too much to pharmaceuticals, financials, real estate and insurance interests - and as far as I can see, he is repaying them nicely. He seems afraid to say anything to anger the Big Guys. On the other hand, I can think of nothing worse than to have another go-around with a Republican president and a Republican congress. Just have to think back to George W. Bush and his first 6 years when he was backed by a Repub House and Senate.....that's how we wound up with this $14.5 Trillion deficit. Ironically, that's when Congress okayed all the spending that put us so deep in debt.

[KarenT]

05:04 PM on 07/27/2011

It's not that difficult to see why social security checks are directly jeopardized by a default: because the social security trust fund is one of the largest creditors to the US treasury!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/26/999216/-Its-Not-a-Threat,-Congressman-Kucinich-Its-Math?via=siderec

[Fdub]

02:39 PM on 07/27/2011

Kucinich > Obama

x 1,000,000

[GetAbike]

02:18 PM on 07/27/2011

Well said Sir- you are the best, and ironically, you are getting gerrymandered out of office.... so that you can run for President!

[Mugzi]

02:36 PM on 07/27/2011

Yes, it would be nice to have a real Democrat running for President!!!!

[Sarad]

11:30 AM on 07/30/2011

Are they really taking his district? Terrible! He and Sanders are the only two I've heard tell it like it is.

[Paros]

02:11 PM on 07/27/2011

So are you considering a run for the Oval Office or looking for a better progressive choice than Obama has turned out to be. WE NEED A CHOICE!!!! And not the one Obama pretended to mean.

[Patricia013]

09:16 PM on 07/27/2011

I second that - we NEED a choice. At this point Obama will be reelected simply because the alternative would be even more horrible!

[SeekWisdom]

02:09 PM on 07/27/2011

We should not overlook the fact that the government has been ripping off seniors since Reagan (and then Clinton) introduced ways of fudging the inflation rate to reduce cost-of-living increases. If the actual inflation rate had been reported honestly all those years, most seniors would be getting almost double what they receive now. That would run it dry well before 2036. But what really needs to be questioned is when the government is going to start repaying all the money it "borrowed" from Social Security. This whole attack on SS, which, as Dennis points out, is not even the governments money, just smells like a sneaky way to avoid repaying what it owes. What the heck. The banks got away with robbing taxpayers - why can't the government get some of that action too?

[Sarad]

11:41 AM on 07/30/2011

The rule, as of now, is that the Social Security Administration tells the U.S. Treasury how much money they will need; the Treasury, by law, immediately buys back the right amount of Special Treasury Bonds, plus interest. I'm not sure the S.S. Administration is yet drawing on the surplus regularly, as I don't know if payroll 'taxes', (actually contributions collected quarterly) fail to cover the outgoing checks to retirees, which now include the first Baby Boomers. If there is a shortfall, it is because of the Great Recession that persists in some quarters.

[KarenT]

02:00 PM on 07/27/2011

I'm a bit suspect since Dennis is considering primarying the President.

[Patricia013]

09:17 PM on 07/27/2011

Sen. Sanders says basically the same thing as Kucinich and he's not running for the presidency.

[Tyler-Durden]

01:50 PM on 07/27/2011

thank you, Rep Kucinich.

i appreciate your efforts to represent the best interests of the entire US public, not just the wealthy part or the religious part.

good luck in fighting the good fight. please don't forget those of us on the bottom.

[Sergeant]

01:36 PM on 07/27/2011

"Curiously, the president didn't explain in his primetime address to the nation that 'the deal' he has been advocating cuts Social Security benefits and pushes back the retirement age. These changes are unwarranted and indefensible."

Thank you for speaking the truth congressman.

[Jeannie Brooks]

01:23 PM on 07/27/2011

That's right about the part of the Grand Bargain President Obama didn't mention, that is cutting SS. Thanks for your article, Mr. Kucinich.

Worse still, is that ALL 3 of the Big 3 are on the table - it includes raising the eligibility age for Medicare, (among other things, including means testing) and cuts to Medicaid which have not been detailed. Cuts like these would impose hardship on the middle/working class while at the same time it is paying for the Republican's huge tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of ordinary Americans. It is unconscionable!

I say No! to the inclusion of any of these in the debt ceiling debate. None of them are the cause of our deficit! Obama should never have accepted the Republican threat to default as legitimate in the first place and should have turned public sentiment against a party which would abuse power in this way and hold the American people hostage. They should have been exposed and humiliated for such an idea!