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July 24, 2011
Congress' war about "reforming" Social Security is still blazing — at least the war of words.
"You want a fight?" Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said. "If anybody in this building wants to take on Social Security — privatize it, change the benefits by altering the consumer price index or by any other method — know this; You've got a fight on your hands.â€
Rep. Xavier Beccera (D-California), vice chaiman of the Democratic Caucus, had equally biting words over those who wish to cut Social Security.
"Social Security has not contributed to these deficits. Why should Social Security ... cover the costs of the real drivers of the deficits, which were the Bush tax cuts, the unpaid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recession?â€
Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois noted that any cuts proposed to Social Security might come on top of proposed cuts to Medicare.
"Seniors get a double whammy — higher health care costs and deeper benefit cuts. It's a bad formula for anyone."
But it seems those fighting words are falling largely on deaf ears. Rep. Peter Sessions (R-Texas), chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, introduced a bill that would allow employees to stop contributing to Social Security. Instead they could voluntarily put their portion of the Social Security tax into private investments. The bill would eventually allow employers to put their match into those private investments as well.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is proposing to shave 1 percentage point off Social Security's annual Cost-of-Living-Adjustment.
Even some Democrats disagree on what to do. Recently, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) proposed extending the nation's payroll tax holiday as an economic stimulator. But House Democrats rejected that proposal because it undermines Social Security's sole funding source.
The only good news is that a bipartisan group of lawmakers tasked with finalizing a deal on reducing the federal deficit agreed that Social Security would be not be touched. Instead the group, which is led by Vice President Joe Biden, agreed that the issue would be tackled separately.
However Becerra isn't convinced that Republicans will hold true to their word.
"What we may hear one day is certainly overwhelmed by what we've heard for many, many weeks out of this new Republican Congress," Becerra said. "They want to not only cut benefits for Social Security, but they're willing to end Medicare."
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SOURCE: The Hill
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