Bernie Says NO To Social Security Cuts

Thank goodness Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is on the Senate-House Budget Conference Committee. The Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, are once again wanting to balance the budget on the backs of the Americans who can least afford it. They want to cut benefits for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (among other things), but absolutely refuse to raise taxes on the rich (even a small amount). This committee badly needs a conscience and some moral direction, and I can't think of anyone better to provide those than Bernie Sanders. Here is his latest missive:

They’re at it again. 

Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, Pete Peterson, Stanley Druckenmiller and others are leading the charge to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. 

If they succeed, millions of senior citizens, working families, disabled veterans and children will suffer. We must not allow that to happen. 

Today, the middle class is disappearing, real unemployment is extremely high, poverty is increasing and working families throughout the country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically. Meanwhile, the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider and the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well. 

We must not balance the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. 

As Vermont’s senator, I have the honor of serving on the Budget Conference Committee which will be negotiating a new federal budget over the next few months -- and where I am fearful that a deal could be struck to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.  

Let’s be clear. Despite right-wing rhetoric: 

Social Security is not going broke. According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a surplus today of $2.8 trillion and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible person for the next 20 years. 

Social Security has not contributed to the deficit. Social Security is funded independently by FICA taxes which are paid by workers and their employers. 

The so-called chained-CPI, which recalculates how COLA’s are formulated, is not a “modest tweak.” If the chained CPI went into effect today, a senior aged 65 would receive $658 a year less in Social Security benefits when he/she is 75, and $1,100 a year less at age 85. Further, the average disabled veteran would lose tens of thousands of dollars in benefits over his/her lifetime.  

When one out of four U.S. corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes; when Bush’s tax breaks for the rich remain in place for many wealthy Americans; when the U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on defense, there are much fairer and economically sound ways to address the budget than cutting programs desperately needed by the most vulnerable people in our country.

Please stand with me today and demand that Congress and the President oppose any grand bargain which cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.