This is for those that keep saying that Obama is cutting SS, Medicare, etc....

[Rosco T.]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheet-victory-bipartisan-compromise-economy-american-people

"...Enforcement protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and low-income programs from any cuts."

"...The Bush tax cuts expire as of 1/1/2013, the same date that the spending sequester would go into effect. These two events together will force balanced deficit reduction. Absent a balanced deal,it would enable the President to use his veto pen to ensure nearly $1 trillion in additional deficit reduction by not extending the high-income tax cuts"

"In Securing this Bipartisan Deal, the President Rejected Proposals that Would Have Placed the Sole Burden of Deficit Reduction on Low-Income or Middle-Class Families: The President stood firmly against proposals that would have placed the sole burden of deficit reduction on lower-income and middle-class families. This includes not only proposals in the House Republican Budget that would have undermined the core commitments of Medicare to our seniors and forced tens of millions of low-income Americans to go without health insurance, but also enforcement mechanisms that would have forced automatic cuts to low-income programs. The enforcement mechanism in the deal exempts Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare benefits, unemployment insurance, programs for low-income families, and civilian and military retirement."

LEARN
TO
READ!

[damonm]

1. K&R, 'cause nobody else will...

[CakeGrrl]

2. Statements from Senators Franken and Leahy back this up. -nt

[brooklynite]

3. Please stop trying to confuse us with FACTs...

You Factist...

[roguevalley]

18. and when he does? What then. Conyters said OBAMA brought

up cutting ss and medicare, not the pukes. He did. I don't trust him. He hasn't kept one promise he has made yet. They can whistle dixie out their asses. I watch what people do. that is where you will find the truth.

[onpatrol98]

26. I think Conyers problem may be a bit personal, though

He and Cleaver were quick to pile on. I think we're seeing some previous election hostility emerging again. Weren't they both Clinton supporters?

[treestar]

29. But these cuts are never described

They are spun as depriving grandma when they may be technical stuff that maybe needs cutting. People are too eager to make hyperbolic claims such as "the New Deal is dead." Drama monarchs have been in the forefront of this issue and there have been very few facts discussed calmly on this board.

[Fruittree]

44. Don't trust who? Conyers or Obama?

"he hasn't kept one promise he has made yet" Exaggeration never serves an argument well...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. Facts are kryptonite to many DUers.

How dare you bring them here.

[Bluenorthwest]

46. Why my Democratic Senator voted No. Jeff Merkley on his vote:

I’ve got a pretty simple test when I’m considering legislation. Will it help the middle class and small businesses create opportunities and get ahead? It's a test the debt bill couldn't pass, which is why I voted no. All policymakers should use that criteria, but the debt plan we voted on today proves that not to be the case.

After over two years of a devastating recession, and a decade of stagnant wages before that, our number one goal should be creating jobs and making sure our kids have opportunities in the future.

Instead, this deal will cut off jobs and pile burdens on middle class families who are already paying the price for a decade of bad policy choices.

Imagine: Americans who may have lost a job, whose mortgage is under water, who can’t afford their kids’ college anymore and have seen prices skyrocket for food and gas are asked to tighten their belts.

At the same time, the very wealthiest Americans and big, well-connected special interests are 100% insulated from any sacrifice. Their lavish tax breaks and sweetheart deals sprinkled throughout the tax code have been conveniently put off limits for any cuts.

The conventional wisdom says we have to swallow this deal. But if we give in to these ransom demands and allow the extremists to continue their assault on the building blocks of middle class prosperity in order to protect the wealthy and well-connected, we’ll be facing more ransom demands soon enough.

I don’t discount the need for tough choices to bring down our unsustainable deficits. But they can’t be only tough choices for those who can least afford the sacrifice, while those in the penthouses and boardrooms continue amassing more and more and more.

This is a fight about more than how we lower the deficit, it’s a fight for our country’s basic values, and our future. Too many in Washington seem to have forgotten that America’s economic strength is inseparable from the well-being of its middle class. If we continue to sacrifice their prosperity to provide more to the well-off and well-connected, we sacrifice America’s greatness. Let’s not let that happen.

[daa]

5. All I hear and read is "enforcement" "Next time" "Bush Tax Cuts Expire"

How many time do you need snokered? Look they are not the "Bush" tax cuts they are the Obama tax cuts that the dems voted for. Its the Obama economy now stupid.

[truedelphi]

8. Well done. n/t

[polmaven]

12. And they are

The Obama unemployment extensions......Thank you, Mr. President.

[johnaries]

33. I believe that's called "selective hearing". It keeps you from hearing

the whole story.

[uponit7771]

36. Nope, TeaPublicans own a chunk of it and things have gotten worse sense they come into power

[Skink]

6. I think the Super congress is for this year.

[truedelphi]

7. Statements from the WH also told us what a great deal

The Health Care "Reform" Act was.

And it was a great deal, just not for those of us who are trying to pay for health insurance without any help from an employer, and who happen to be over 45 years old.

It was especially a great deal for Health Insurance Executives, who will continue to be paid over a hundred million bucks a year for having their secretaries do a lot of work.

So re: Social Security - here is one very big piece of the puzzle: we don't know if Obama will be in office come January 2013. Obama has not bothered to do very much about the totally hackable voting machinery. He doesn't fare very well in most of the MainStream News Media.

If he isn't President in 2013, due to his election being stolen, that means the Republican President could slam away at the program.

You don't think that Michelle Bachman or Sarah could be President in 2013? Well, I sure as heck didn't think that George W would be ruling and ruining our nation from 2000 to Jan 2009.

In any event, here is some hard core factual-based information on this latest deal from one of the major website resources on Social Security:

"The annual discretionary funding caps would be adjusted by the amount by which funds appropriated for the SSA program integrity activities for a year exceed $273 million; the maximum such adjustment would rise from $623 million for fiscal year 2012 to $1.309 billion a year for fiscal years 2017 through 2021. If the Congress were to appropriate the maximum amounts eligible for the cap adjustment related to SSA funding, spending for such activities would be about $4 billion above CBO’s baseline. Based on the $4 billion increase, CBO estimates that benefit outlays for DI, SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid would fall by nearly $12 billion over the 2012-2021 period (see Table 2). Additional savings would accrue after 2021. ..."

More discussions to be had over at:
http://socsecnews.blogspot.com/

[cui bono]

9. The Bush tax cuts were supposed to already have expired.

The WH denied having back door deals with big pharma until they had to admit it.

You really believe what comes out of there?

LEARN
TO
WATCH
THEIR
ACTIONS!

[boxman15]

13. Well, if he let them expire,

taxes would've gone up on EVERYBODY, not just the top 2%, and Republican hostage taking would allow unemployment benefits to expire. Sure, we'd get our higher taxes for the rich, but would you want to see taxes go up for the other 98% and for the unemployed to see their benefits end?

[Whisp]

17. thanks for telling it like it is.

some people just want to believe only part of the deal that supports their unbridled hate for Obama.

[cui bono]

20. Hahahaha.... I don't hate him. But he has disgusted me, with good reason.

But those with blinders on cannot see the truth. They are just waiting for the next chess move. :eyes:

[Whisp]

21. of course you have nothing to say about post 13.

you mock
avoid

mock some more

and adhere to the falsehood of 'but Obama refused to tax the rich' and completely ignore there were other components at play.

[cui bono]

24. OF course you have nothing to say about how he never even tried to get anything

he professes to want when he wants us on his side. Oh, that's because there is nothing to say about that. He never did it.

[Whisp]

25. 'he never even tried to get anything'

yep, sure.

did they serve you good coffee when you were in all the meetings and negotiations?

[cui bono]

32. You mean the secret back door meetings with big pharma that the WH denied?

I don't drink coffee. Or kool-aid.

[cui bono]

19. He didn't even fight the fight. He enables R hostage taking.

The only time he fought with fire is when he was running for POTUS. Now that he's there he's all about caving.

When will he take the fight to the bully pulpit? When???

When will he rid himself of banksters in his administration? Whenn???

It's clear who he represents, and it's not you and I.

[dflprincess]

23. Unemployment benefits end for anyone who gets to 99 weeks

nothing was done to help the 99ers. And, the unemployment extentions expires at the end of this year, while the tax cuts go on until 2012.

[johnaries]

38. 99 weeks is better than 26. And those tax cuts include the

middle class cuts, as well as the rich.

[Dawgs]

47. Hell yes raise taxes on everyone.

The economy worked just fine in the late nineties with those tax rates.

[rury]

10. K&R!!

[readmoreoften]

11. Yes. Krugman, MoveOn, Conyers, NOW, Taibbi, Reich, The CBC, are all liars who can't read.

I think they can read pretty well. Tabling a cut so it can be shielded by an extra-legislative super-committee is not the same as protecting and maintaining the safety nets of the American people.

[uponit7771]

37. I either believe them or my lyin eyes hunh?

[MessiahRp]

42. +1000

Absolutely. They're not cutting anything immediately, that's what the unconstitutional Super Congress plans to do. Just as the Bush Tax Cuts will never be allowed to expire, you better bet your ass that the SS and Medicare cuts that Obama WANTED are going to be on the table and pushed through by the Super Congress crew. All it takes is one Right-Center Dem to get on the committee and it's game over and I suspect that's what Reid will do. Dick Durbin or someone that will sell out SS/Medicare in a heartbeat.

Rp

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Unvanguard]

15. This is a totally misleading characterization of the plan.

The trigger mechanism does not cut Social Security and Medicaid. The Joint Committee can, however, recommend cuts to those programs.

[bvar22]

16. YES.

We will slash BILLIONS in Government Spending during a Recession & Jobs Crisis TODAY,
for a weaselly worded promise that may or may NOT be kept sometime in the future!

I hope we got a bag of Magic beans too!



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises..

[politicasista]

22. The Senators that support this are going to take heat voting for this

and people saying that they are just trying to eat Obama's cheese, but thanks for the information.

[Inuca]

27. I don' think the president

can chose not to extend only the tax cuts for the high earners. I am afraid it's all or nothing.

[treestar]

28. Don't confuse those people with facts!

They want to be victims of betrayal, dammit!

[lonestarlib]

30. Has anyone read the actual 70+ page bill?

[MessiahRp]

43. The lobbyists that wrote it?

nt

[tweeternik]

31. K&R !! n/t

[eridani]

34. Doesn't stop the SuperCongress from gutting Social Security and Medicare n/t

[johnaries]

39. Yes, it does. nt

[eridani]

40. that's bullshit n/t

[eridani]

41. References here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1645687

[Bluenorthwest]

45. Nope, everything is on the table for the Super Congress

Sorry if you do not like that fact, but this OP is misleading. The actual decision making, as always, has been kicked down the road a bit. The Committee of 12 can propose any cut they wish, to anything they wish.

[uponit7771]

35. FUCK FACTS!!!! /sarcasm