Social Security News, Thursday 11-14-13 SSW/SSSC mention Bloomberg (NAT) Throwing-Grandma-Off-Cliff Ads Dim Odds of Medicare Cuts Julie Bykowicz 11-13-13 Pro-seniors groups, including the Alliance for Retired Americans and Social Security Works, today are delivering to Congress a petition signed by 656,353 people against entitlement cuts. “No grand bargain in exchange for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits,” the document says. bloomberg/news/2013-11-13/throwing-grandma-off-cliff-ads-dim-odds-of-medicare-cuts.html SSW/SSSC mention Reuters (NAT) U.S. budget negotiators far from deal, move behind closed doors 11-13-13 Senator Bernie Sanders, a liberal independent from Vermont, complained about the secret negotiations and vowed to stop efforts to cut the Social Security pension program and Medicare and Medicaid healthcare benefits. He presented Murray and Ryan with a petition signed by more than 700,000 Americans opposed to cuts in the programs. Im not a great fan of background negotiations, Sanders told Reuters Insider Television. I will do my best to make sure that we dont cut these very important programs, which are life and death to millions of Americans. news.yahoo/u-budget-talks-show-no-sign-progress-cbo-203416069--business.html;_ylt=A2KLOzJnyYRStlIAa3DQtDMD SSW/SSSC mention Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) Paul Ryan Gets 700,000 ‘No’ Votes on Social Security Cuts Isaiah Poole 11-14-13 Our video shows what happened when two dozen representatives of the nine organizations that helped collect petition signatures, including the Campaign for America’s Future, went to Capitol Hill to deliver the petitions to Ryan’s office. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spearheaded the effort in the Senate. (The other participating organizations were the Alliance for Retired Americans, Campaign for Community Change, DailyKos, Democracy for America, The Other 98%, Progressives United, Social Security Works and USAction.) sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/paul-ryan-gets-700000-no-votes-on-social-security-cuts SSW/SSSC mention KWTV (TX) Veterans Protest Chained CPI Benefit Cut 11-11-13 Video:Veterans Protest Chained CPI Benefit Cut kwtx/video?videoid=2715840 SSW/SSSC mention Reading Eagle (PA) Veterans, unions protest benefits plan in Reading 11-13-13 readingeagle/mobile/article.aspx?id=518944 SSW/SSSC mention ABC 5 News (IA) Veterans Fight Against Benefit Cuts Claire Powell 11-13-13 Well hopefully have enough people to sign petitions, to get to our legislators and senators and stress how important this issue is and how strongly we feel about it, said Rob Montgomery, member of Alliance for Retired Americans. woi-tv/story/23962405/veterans-fight New York Times (NAT) Fighting to Stop an Entitlement Before It Takes Hold, and Expands JOHN HARWOOD 11-13-13 Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression, the dominant pattern for major entitlements — the term for government assistance programs open to all who qualify and not subject to annual budget constraints — has been durability and expansion. That is the record Senator Ted Cruz of Texas refers to in warning Republicans not to allow Americans to become “hooked on the subsidies” — an argument Mr. Obama sarcastically recast as, “We’ve got to stop it before people like it too much.” nytimes/2013/11/13/us/politics/republicans-target-health-law-before-it-takes-hold.html Fox Business (NAT) Raise the eligibility age for Social Security? 11-14-13 Global Policy Solutions CEO Maya Rockeymoore and Brookings Institution Economist Gary Burtless video.foxbusiness/v/2838996189001/raise-the-eligibility-age-for-social-security/?playlist_id=1866680862001 National Journal (NAT) Social Security as a Civil Right By Maya Rockeymoore and Meizhu Lui 11-14-13 In 2008, Social Security lifted 33 percent of African-Americans, 30 percent of Latinos, and 19 percent of Asian-Americans out of poverty. In 2009, 47.2 percent of blacks and 52.8 percent of Latinos relied on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income; for 39.5 percent of blacks and 44.2 percent of Latinos, it was their only source of income. nationaljournal/next-america/perspectives/social-security-as-a-civil-right-20131114 PR Watch (Blog) Astroturf “Fix the Debt” Caught Ghostwriting for College Students MARY BOTTARI 11-14-13 Say it ain’t so Jon. Our friend Jon Romano, press secretary for the inside-the-beltway PR campaign “Fix the Debt” and its pet youth group, The Can Kicks Back, have been caught writing op-eds for college students and placing the identical op-eds in papers across the country. prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12307/astroturf-%E2%80%9Ccampaign-fix-debt%E2%80%9D-caught-ghost-writing-college-kids New York Times (NAT) Rethinking the Rise of Inequality EDUARDO PORTER 11-12-13 “Nothing we do with the education supply will have a big impact among the top 1 percent,” Professor Katz said. But “could it improve the upward mobility and the prospects of a better job for Americans born in the bottom half of the income distribution? Yes.” nytimes/2013/11/13/business/rethinking-the-income-gap-and-a-college-education.html?_r=0 CBPP (DC) Social Security Is Especially Important to Minorities By Paul Van de Water 11-13-13 A recent analysis by economist Eugene Steuerle and colleagues concludes that African Americans and Hispanics as a group each pay more in Social Security taxes in a given year than they receive in benefits. If true, this stems more from the age composition of the population (as explained below) than from the structure of Social Security. The fact remains that Social Security is particularly important for minorities. offthechartsblog.org/social-security-is-especially-important-to-minorities/ Gainesville Sun (FL) Using other peoples words as your own Nathan Crabbe 11-10-13 The identical columns ran last weekend in newspapers in New Hampshire and Wisconsin. They each included the same first-person passage describing the students work with the Campaign to Fix the Debt and its millennial arm, The Can Kicks Back. gainesville/article/20131110/COLUMNISTS/131109600 WCF Courier (IA) Veterans launch fight against possible benefit changes Mike Wiser 11-14-13 Grassley sent an email response after his office was contacted about the group’s concerns. “Chained CPI would need careful consideration. It’s something President Obama proposed in his budget, since even he recognized that the current program is unsustainable for future generations without reforms,” Grassley said. wcfcourier/news/local/govt-and-politics/veterans-launch-fight-against-possible-benefit-changes/article_153bed2e-ef97-599a-bb0e-d8ea8d4deb05.html Washington Post (NAT) Slowing the growth of U.S. debt Martin Feldstein 11-11-13 There is no shortage of ideas on how to slow the growth of Social Security outlays. My preference would be to repeat the strategy enacted in 1983: gradually raising the age at which individuals can receive full benefits. In the 30 years since that compromise, life expectancy at age 67 has increased by three years. Gradually raising the retirement age for full benefits by three years would achieve substantial savings. Individuals could, of course, continue to retire earlier with benefits adjusted. washingtonpost/opinions/martin-feldstein-slowing-the-growth-of-us-debt/2013/11/11/8b4de21a-480c-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html Federal Times (DC) CBO: Federal compensation cuts could save billions SEAN REILLY 11-14-13 The government could save almost $280 billion during the next decade by paring the size of the federal workforce, spending less on federal pay raises and pensions, and adopting a more conservative inflation gauge to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for civilian retirees and other participants in federal benefits programs, the Congressional Budget Office said in its latest rundown of deficit cutting options. federaltimes/article/20131114/BENEFITS/311140005/CBO-Federal-compensation-cuts-could-save-billions Politics Bloomberg (NAT) Stark Choices to Lower Deficit Offered by Budget Chief Heidi Przybyla 11-13-13 Among the options with the greatest estimated savings are implementing cost-sharing rules for Medicare, at $114 billion, and moving to a different method of calculating Social Security cost-of-living increases starting in 2014, at $93 billion. On revenues, the CBO estimated the greatest amount would come from a $25 per metric ton tax on emissions tied to greenhouse gases, at $1.06 trillion and eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes, at $954 billion. bloomberg/news/2013-11-13/democrat-murray-says-talks-with-ryan-are-encouraging.html New York Times (NAT) A Contrite Obama Unveils a Health Fix ASHLEY PARKER, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and ROBERT PEAR 11-15-13 WASHINGTON — President Obama bowed to mounting political pressure from across the country and on Capitol Hill on Thursday and announced new rules that will let insurance companies keep people on health care plans that would not have been allowed under the Affordable Care Act. nytimes/2013/11/15/us/politics/obama-to-offer-health-care-fix-to-keep-plans-democrat-says.html?hp&_r=0 Burlington Free Press (VT) Sen. Sanders provides history lesson on deficits during budget meeting 11-13-14 Sanders asked Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf during Wednesday’s meeting. “How do we pay for that war?” Elmendorf began explaining that Congress cut taxes during that period, until Sanders cut in. “You’re not suggesting that in the middle of a war which cost $3 trillion Congress actually cut taxes for the rich?” he asked, sarcastically. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., interrupted with a chuckle, saying “Bernie, that’s fine. Come on.”burlingtonfreepress/article/20131113/NEWS03/311130031/Sanders-provides-lesson-on-deficits Wall Street Journal (NAT) Budget Talks Look for Elusive Common Ground JANET HOOK 11-13-13 House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said he was looking for areas of overlap between Republican and Democratic budgets for a possible fiscal compromise, but no such common ground emerged from a Wednesday meeting of the House-Senate conference committee on the budget. Mr. Ryan’s comment came in response to a question from Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.) about whether there were enough proposals in common between Republicans and Democrats to close the $91 billion gap between the discretionary spending targets set by budgets of House Republicans and Senate Democrats. blogs.wsj/washwire/2013/11/13/budget-talks-look-for-elusive-common-ground/ The Hill (DC) Pryor slams Cotton for Social Security vote Rebecca Shabad 11-13-13 Sen. Mark Pryor (R-Ark.) is accusing his GOP challenger of voting to cut Social Security. In a new ad, Pryor argues Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) voted to cut Social Security and turn Medicare into a voucher program when he supported a conservative budget rejected by the House earlier this year. thehill/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/190108-pryor-launches-ad-attacking-cottons-medicare-social-security Politico (DC) Karl Rove: Republicans in ‘state of flux’ TAL KOPAN 11-14-13 Republican strategist Karl Rove said Thursday the tea party element has put the GOP in a “state of flux,” but it is on its way to being worked out. “The Republican coalition is in a state of flux,” Rove said during a panel at The Atlantic’s Washington Ideas Forum, when asked to assess the current situation of his party. “Now it’s starting to sort out, and I think, frankly, we are past the point of greatest warfare.” politico/story/2013/11/karl-rove-republicans-in-state-of-flux-99877.html?hp=l2 Huffington Post (NAT) Janet Yellen Shames Congress For Austerity, Being Terrible Mark Gongloff 11-14-13 Yellen reminded lawmakers of their sheer terribleness during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday about her nomination to replace Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve when his term ends in January. Republican senators moaned and groaned, as usual, about the Feds extreme easy-money policies. Yellen reminded everybody that Congress has forced the Fed to act by constantly imposing harsh austerity measures on an economy still recovering from a financial crisis and deep recession. huffingtonpost/2013/11/14/janet-yellen-congress_n_4275572.html Roll Call (DC) House Democrats Eye New ‘If You Like It’ Obamacare Fix Emma Dumain 11-14-13 House Democratic leaders, in a bid to keep frustrated rank-and-file members from supporting a Republican bill to remedy the White House’s broken “if you like it, you can keep it” promise, are mobilizing around a new legislative fix. blogs.rollcall/218/house-democrats-plan-new-if-you-like-it-fix/
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 23:07:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015