House Democrats urged to remove 'insidious attack' on Social Security hidden within senate coronavir

[riversedge]

Source: raw story




House Democrats urged to remove ‘insidious attack’ on Social Security hidden within senate coronavirus bill



Published 9 hours ago on March 26, 2020


“The only way to escape this trap is to avoid stepping into it in the first place. That’s why the House must remove the cut to Social Security’s dedicated funding before this bill passes.”

Progressives are demanding that the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives prioritize removing a little-noticed provision in the massive Senate-passed coronavirus stimulus bill that would allow employers to stop paying into Social Security for at least the rest of the year—potentially threatening the program’s long-term financial health.

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Section 2302 of the nearly 900-page legislation would let companies defer until next year their payment of the employer payroll tax, one of the primary funding mechanisms for Social Security. The bill would require that companies pay 50% of their owed 2020 payroll taxes by December 31, 2021.

While the section has thus far received little media attention, advocacy group Social Security Works said the language authorizes an “insidious attack” on the New Deal-era program and must be stripped out before final passage.

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“The Democrats are walking right into the trap,” Michael Phelan, deputy director of Social Security Works, warned in an email Wednesday night ahead of the Senate vote. “If Trump and Republicans retain power after November’s elections, they will make sure that corporations never repay Social Security. Then, Republicans will use the reduced trust fund as an excuse to destroy our Social Security system.”
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Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/house-democrats-urged-to-remove-insidious-attack-on-social-security-hidden-within-senate-coronavirus-bill/

[Hoyt]

1. This is about the fifth time this BS article has been posted today.

To the articles author, Jake Johnson:

The other way struggling corporations -- big and small -- can avoid paying their share of Social Security tax is to fire your ass.

The Stimulus attempts to remove that incentive by providing a LOAN to companies -- big and small -- for a year or two to help them with cash flow. They have to pay it back, and it doesn't impact Social Security.

I prefer the latter alternative to canning our butts. So-called "progressives" are wrong on this one.

[gab13by13]

4. I'm pretty sure if small companies

keep 90% of their workers they don't have to pay back the "loan."

[Hoyt]

6. At least they put some in legislation to incentivize keeping employees.

I just don’t see this as some nefarious plot to undermine Social Security.

[aggiesal]

8. Are you serious? ...

That’s exactly what this is.
Stop paying into SocSec and it dries up fast.
And the Republicans have been trying to get rid of SocSec since it was implemented.

This is just a foot in the door. Next they’ll be shoving the door wide open.

[Hoyt]

9. You are wrong, sorry. Obama cut contributions too, if you remember, to help

during last recession. This is a good move that removes one factor in deciding whether there is enough cashflow to keep employees. Yes, I’m serious. It won’t impact SS.

[aggiesal]

10. I hope you're right ...

But if Republicans steal the election this year
I won’t expect SocSec to be around too much after that.

[JonLP24]

12. I was against Obama's Chained CPI cuts myself

Link to tweet

[Hoyt]

13. He never suggested that. The so-called "cat food" commission did, they also

recommend significantly increasing payments to those on lower end of benefit scale.

[CousinIT]

17. You're conflating the loan with the 6.2 percent tax holiday for employers. They are separate.

The loans are one part of it. Another part is that employers can "defer" paying their share of the FICA tax (social security & medicare) for almost two years. Employees still have to pay their share.

These are two different things.

I've heard "well they'll make it up out of the general fund" and "well they'll pay it later in 2021 and 2022" (according to the bill). There a couple problems with those excuses:

1. Taking money out of a self-funded account for a corporate tax cut and replacing it with money out of the general fund renders that account no longer self-funded but rather part of the larger budget and thus easier to CUT
2. Republicans will try every trick they can muster to ensure those employers NEVER pay the taxes they "deferred" during this time.

Taking any money from social security (or replacing any of it with general funds) risks causing the SS fund to be unable to pay full benefits that much sooner. It's a CUT.

And that's not bullshit.

[Hoyt]

18. If the feds say you can defer the 6.2% until next year, it is in fact a LOAN.

And that is exactly what the legislation says.

[onenote]

22. So how loudly did you protest when Obama pushed for a payroll tax cut made up out of general fund?

[msongs]

2. not LBN in any way nt

[yaesu]

3. anything repukes sign on to has got to have something evil hidden in it. Rep Pocan was asked about

this during a question answer session today so they know about it & will address it if needed.

[DENVERPOPS]

5. How much do you think that is going to add to the 2+ TRILLION???????

900 page bill? I'll bet we are going to see ALL KINDS of chicken shit things hidden in the fine print by the
RepubliCONS.

[oldsoftie]

16. Oh, theres plenty of "chicken shit" things in there that have NOTHING to do with Covid19

and they come from BOTH sides. I'm so sick of just about everyone in Congress
TERM LIMITS NOW!

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Sadly,

many good politicians have been thrown out with Term limits in order to get rid of the bad ones....

[oldsoftie]

20. When? We've never had them. even though the vast majority of people WANT them

Sure, some "good" ones would be term limited. Just like some good presidents are too.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. So many

use term limits instead of the ballot box and voting.......

In Colorado we have term limited out two governors that were incredible. Dick Lamm and Roy Romer.......

And we got a number of horrific ones. Owens, Love, etc

At least we got another great one right now: Polis

[cstanleytech]

7. I thought the Republicans would try to slip that one by but hopefully the Democrats will oppose it

and the Republicans will then abandon this current effort of theirs to attack social security and those on it because in the long run it will cause far greater problems for the country that will last longer than the disruption we are having with this virus.

[onenote]

11. Typical hair on fire rawstory BS

I don’t know why DU allows raw story to be treated as a legitimate late breaking news source.

[Ghost Dog]

14. Does a watertight sunset clause govern this emergency legislation?

There are surely many clauses in it that should not apply indefinitely...

[Lonestarblue]

15. We should remember that this bill was written by Republican corporate lobbyists.

I’ve forgotten which Democratic Senator was on the news about the bill, but he said it was delivered to Democrats by lobbyists,,not anyone in the Senate!

And they wrote it quickly, so you know there is language in there that already existed and that they have tried to insert into other bills. Republicans have wanted to kill Social Security, or privatize it so that profits can be skimmed off the top, for decades. Whether this is one more attempt to do that remains to be seen. The rationale that Obama did this too is different because we know that Obama was not trying to kill SS and would force companies to repay amounts owed. Trump and Republicans cannot be relied on to do the same.