Looks Like the Attack on Medicare and Social Security has Begun...

[Junkdrawer]

Many of us expected this to come 5 to 10 years from now. But double digit unemployment has both reduced FICA tax revenues and has caused many Boomers to go for early retirement. Result: Social Security will be paying out more than it's taking in FAR sooner than expected. So the knives are out:


Sens. squeeze Speaker over commission

Senators from both parties on Tuesday put new pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to turn the power to trim entitlement benefits over to an independent commission.

Seven members of the Senate Budget Committee threatened during a Tuesday hearing to withhold their support for critical legislation to raise the debt ceiling if the bill calling for the creation of a bipartisan fiscal reform commission were not attached. Six others had previously made such threats, bringing the total to 13 senators drawing a hard line on the committee legislation.

“You rarely do have the leverage to make a fundamental change,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who said he hasn’t ruled out offering the independent commission legislation as an amendment to the healthcare reform bill.

The panel, which has been championed by Conrad and ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H), would be tasked with stemming the unsustainable rise in debt.

Among its chief responsibilities would be closing the gap between tax revenue coming in and the larger cost of paying for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The Government Accountability Office recently reported the gap is on pace to reach an “unsustainable” $63 trillion in 2083.

The panel would also have the power to craft legislation that would change the tax code and set limits on government spending.

....

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/67293-sens-squeeze-speaker-over-commission

[AllentownJake]

1. Defense Budget increase 4% this year

Shows the priorities of this administration and the Senate.

[Junkdrawer]

2. As long as FICA helped finance the Military, Social Security was safe...

The minute that changes, it's bye bye Grandpa...

[villager]

3. Shows the priorities of America. You occasionally run afoul of those, it's a motorcade

...route changed at the last minute, a "lone" nut, or a private plane for you, fella...

[kath]

21. yup.

[Obamanaut]

4. "...set limits on government spending..." Now there is a pipe dream

that will not see the light of day in my life time.

[annabanana]

5. And the Speaker of the House should listen to a cabal of

radical conservadems in the Senate, why?

As I said in an earlier thread on this subject, I don't think that the House CAN, legally, turn over it's fiduciary responsibility. Their primacy in financial matters is a Constitutional thing.

[closeupready]

6. Here we go.

:mad:

[Better Believe It]

7. They are proposing a commission in order to avoid congressional hearings and debates.

No messy congressional hearings.

No real debate.

A successful bi-partisan attack on social security benefits and other so-called "entitlements" is in the works.

[Junkdrawer]

8. Yep. Commissions are the way it's done...

The 1983 Reagan Commission raised FICA rates on the working poor...

[Thothmes]

27. More to the point. No Vote. Nothing to haunt a Congressional

member when it comes to election time. Deniable responsibility. A cowards way out of avoiding responsibility.

[dflprincess]

9. Thank God we have a majority in Congress and took back the White House

:sarcasm:

Here's an idea - lift the income cap on FICA that would help the system.

[Junkdrawer]

10. Expect the streets to be FILLED with teabaggers fighting that idea...

WHAT DO WE WANT?

LESS MONEY!

WHEN DO WE WANT IT?

NOW!

[Better Believe It]

11. This is the way they can achieve what they describe as "drastic cuts in social security & Medicare

From the article:

Conrad, Gregg, Cooper and others differ on how much authority Congress can yield to an outside panel — even one consisting of senators and House members. But they all agree Congress lacks the political wherewithal to make potentially drastic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or raise taxes, in the name of fiscal responsibility.

“I don’t mind giving regular order a chance,” Gregg said. “But it’s had the chance for years.”

And Conrad signaled that he may likewise have run out of patience with the status quo, suggesting that if Democratic leaders refuse to couple a vote on a bipartisan fiscal task force of some kind with the debt limit increase, he would seek to attach a commission proposal to other crucial legislation.

“There are other vehicles,” Conrad said Tuesday, “including healthcare.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/67293-sens-squeeze-speaker-over-commission

[Demeter]

13. Gregg is Unspeakable

[Junkdrawer]

22. A Permanent Commission

...

Other lawmakers have similar proposals. But Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, have proposed not a one-time panel but a permanent 15-member commission made up of mostly outside experts and only a few lawmakers; they would periodically propose ways to balance the benefits and revenues of Medicare and Social Security for Congress to vote on.

...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/senators-back-panel-on-deficit-reduction/

Get it. They incrementally lower benefits and raise taxes so they never have to redeem the "Trust Fund".

[glitch]

12. Our country's cancer will continue to metastasize until it is treated. nt

[Orwellian_Ghost]

14. K&R

[msongs]

15. FIFTY % cut in military/industrial welfare complex asap. there, problem solved nt

[elehhhhna]

16. Indep commission = DEATH PANEL. Run with it!

[blindpig]

17. k&r

[Junkdrawer]

18. NY Times has more....

Senators Back Panel on Deficit Reduction

The Senate budget committee chairman said a group of lawmakers would agree soon to a proposal for a bipartisan commission to force reductions in federal deficits, hoping to attach it either to must-pass legislation raising the nation’s debt limit or, failing that, to the pending health care bill.

Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, spoke after a committee hearing where all the invited witnesses — members of Congress and outside budget analysts — were, like him, supporters of some commission. Nearly all said they were “reluctant converts,” as two put it, having concluded that Democrats and Republicans cannot reach the needed compromises on spending cuts and tax increases without some forcing mechanism.

Mr. Conrad said he and Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the senior Republican on the budget committee, have agreed on legislation for a task force of lawmakers and administration officials that would report recommendations by the end of 2010 — after next November’s elections. It would require Congress to vote quickly on the package, without amendments, during a lame-duck session.

Other lawmakers have similar proposals. But Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, have proposed not a one-time panel but a permanent 15-member commission made up of mostly outside experts and only a few lawmakers; they would periodically propose ways to balance the benefits and revenues of Medicare and Social Security for Congress to vote on.

...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/senators-back-panel-on-deficit-reduction/

[necso]

19. It never completely stopped,

and won't until the extremists have their way.

Money spent on average folks means less money going to the oligarchs (and essential flunkies), who never have enough (generally, they didn't get there, don't stay there, by being their brothers' keepers).

But hey, it's their "god's" work. (Apparently, he's greedy, materialistic, selfish...)

[Rectangle]

20. Start taxing over $96K of income. Up to 96 Billion!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Congress got a pay reaise this year, too.

They get one automatically, unless they veto it, which they did not do.
and Obama approved a 2% pay raise for all Federal emplyees.
We on Soc. Sec. got nothing.

[sendero]

24. Oh don't worry..

.... there is plenty of money in the trust fund.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[gmoney]

25. LOCKBOX! LOCKBOX!

I'm super serial.

[Junkdrawer]

26. A Permanent Commission so they never have to touch the "Trust Fund"...

...

Other lawmakers have similar proposals. But Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, have proposed not a one-time panel but a permanent 15-member commission made up of mostly outside experts and only a few lawmakers; they would periodically propose ways to balance the benefits and revenues of Medicare and Social Security for Congress to vote on.

...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/senators-back-panel-on-deficit-reduction/

[placton]

28. and the Dems will go along with this

to appeal to the "middle"

[mmonk]

30. Yes, the mythical middle of everything political.

[Junkdrawer]

29. Kick

:kick:

[mopinko]

31. i think it is called

duck and cover.