The government may stop issuing Social Security payments after the debt limit is hit -- here's why

[Omaha Steve]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-government-may-stop-issuing-social-security-payments-after-the-debt-limit-is-hit-here-s-why/ar-AA18tC8j?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=7b893509180b4868812d6c6f50e958ab&ei=18

Story by Mark Hulbert • 5h ago

RETIREMENT WEEKLY
There’s a very real possibility the government will stop issuing Social Security payments after the debt limit is hit.

Scary as that prospect is, however, the alternative might be even worse: A little-known provision of a 1996 law could be interpreted to allow the Social Security trust fund to be used not only to pay Social Security’s monthly checks but also to circumvent the debt limit and pay all the government’s otherwise overdue bills.

If that happens, any short-term relief to Social Security recipients would come with a potentially huge long-term price tag: The Social Security trust fund could be exhausted much sooner than currently projected—in just a couple of years, in fact.

These dire possibilities emerge from an analysis conducted by Steve Robinson, the chief economist for The Concord Coalition, a group that describes itself as “a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating the public and finding common sense solutions to our nation’s fiscal policy challenges.”

FULL story at link above.

About the Concord Coalition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Coalition

[splat]

1. Saber-rattling

No pol wants to be responsible for millions of voting old folks defaulting on their mortgages and mad as hell.

[llashram]

8. and if alone

dying because they can't pay heating and power companies. During a long cold winter and super hot summers...coming. I am so sick of these...I want to cuss so bad...jerks labelled RW. They are truly fascists trying to get rid of collateral people.

[Igel]

31. Hardly likely.

It would take a year or two in court.

During that time the debt owed to the SSA would be swapped out for public debt. (We have two debts. SSA debt is special-issue treasury notes that only the Feds can hold. When we cash out FICA debt we make it public debt and it appears on the deficit.)

[Marthe48]

34. Could you explain:

"When we cash out FICA debt we make it public debt and it appears on the deficit."

When you say we, do you mean the government, or some other entity?

Thank you

[llashram]

36. thanks for that

it's just that being up in years, I'm terrified of these RW clowns

[SheltieLover]

2. Kicking for Visibility

[Meadowoak]

3. Time to take to the streets and make some noise.

[CrispyQ]

4. I wonder how many of my senior repub/trumper relatives depend on SS?

I can only think of two who worked for govt entities. The rest worked for a private company that probably paid into SS/medicare.

[Mr.Bill]

12. The republicans will

blame it on Biden, with Fox News leading the charge.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Associated w/ the Heritage Foundation. They are blatantly one-sided. I ignore them period.

The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage)[1][2] is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership.[4]

[Omaha Steve]

7. Concord Coalition has progressives on the board

Co-Chairman – Bob Kerrey (Former US Senator from NE)

Board of directors
Co-Chairman – Warren Rudman
Co-Chairman – Bob Kerrey
Co-Chairman – Paul Tsongas (1941–1997)
President – Peter G. Peterson
Secretary-Treasurer/Budget Chairman – Charles A. Bowsher
Finance Chairman – Eugene M. Freedman
Executive Director – Robert L. Bixby

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Yes, thank you. i looked at the list, some of them haven't been updated or changed in years, so I

wondered about the current validity.

[Raftergirl]

13. Link to present Board and staff

https://www.concordcoalition.org/about-us/

[SWBTATTReg]

15. I already looked at that.

Board of directors
Co-Chairman – Warren Rudman
Co-Chairman – Bob Kerrey
Co-Chairman – Paul Tsongas (1941–1997)
President – Peter G. Peterson
Secretary-Treasurer/Budget Chairman – Charles A. Bowsher
Finance Chairman – Eugene M. Freedman
Executive Director – Robert L. Bixby

Above member 1941 - 1997, years of service or age (if age, he's deceased). Confusing.

[Raftergirl]

26. Warren Rudman has been dead since 2012. Peterson since 2018

From my link:



Board Of Directors

The Concord Coalition’s board of directors sets the strategic direction of the organization and advises on policy implications and opportunities for American citizens to impact the budgeting process. The board membership includes many former members of Congress who are intimately familiar with the political challenges inherent in balancing the budget and are keenly aware of the importance of public engagement in creating a culture of fiscal responsibility in Washington.


HON. MICHAEL CASTLE
HON. JOHN DANFORTH
HON. BOB KERREY
HON. JOHN TANNER

Vice Chairs

Paul A. Allaire
Hon. Evan Bayh, III
Hon. Charles A. Bowsher
Roger E. Brinner
John E. “Buck” Chapoton
Hanna Holborn Gray
Evan G. Greenberg
Hon. Judd A. Gregg
Donald Marron
Hon. J. Alex McMillan
Harvey M. Meyerhoff
Hon. Sam Nunn
Hon. Timothy J. Penny
Martha Phillips
Hon. Charles S. Robb
Hon. Robert E. Rubin
Hon. Charles W. Stenholm
John G. Turner
Mark Weinberger
Clint Zweifel

Bixby is still Exec. Director.

https://www.concordcoalition.org/about-us/

[JanMichael]

23. I counted 2 women on the board list. 2.

[FalloutShelter]

6. Anyone think these GOP bastards would do this just to put

an end to the Social Security program?

I think they are just evil and stupid enough to do it.

[Mr.Bill]

10. That's when the government officials

will learn how many old people own guns.

[DFW]

11. It wouldn't change things for me if they did

I applied to start getting mine a year ago. The application, according to the SSA, was approved, but I haven't seen a cent yet.

[Raftergirl]

14. That's weird.

I applied in early February and just got a reimbursement check for my last monthly Medicare payment and will get my first SS check in mid April.


Have you called SSA?

[DFW]

17. Of course I called them

I even got a live person on the line who actually wanted to help. I made my application last year, asking for payments starting in March of 2022, on my 70th birthday. My last conversation with them was in January, when I was in Washington. The guy said he didn't know why I hadn't received anything yet, although he was able to determine that I indeed hadn't. He said he'd send a notice to the office responsible. It must have been a "strongly worded letter," because I have have seen zero from them so far.

[W_HAMILTON]

30. You have to follow up and keep following up.

Press the issue, etc.

You have to be your own advocate in situations such as these because you will find that a lot of people are just clocking in and clocking out and won't take charge and really make sure your particular issue gets resolved. I had this same problem applying for Medicaid for my elderly mom. It took months and months. So many people just seemed to not care, but a few people did. I have *literal* pages of every time I would call and who I spoke with and what we talked about, to document it in case it was ever needed (you should do this as well, it may come in handy if they try to deny you retroactive benefits for whatever reason, even if you had applied for them so long ago).

Don't accept that they will just resolve your situation for you. You have to fight to get it resolved and you have to stay on them to get it taken care of. Do what you need to do!

[DFW]

33. That's actually what the guy from the SSA told me in January

I told him I'd probably be back in the States in April, which I still intend to be.

He said I SHOULD have started to get my payments, retroactive to March, 2022, by then. Nothing, of course. But I can't keep calling for an hour from Europe to DC for this all the time. I have more free time on my US visits, so I'll get on it again next month. Maybe I can arrange an in person visit when I'm in DC. They document my calls, but the person who takes the calls is powerless except for passing the message on. Getting to the person who can actually put thing in motion--if such a person even exists--is the real trick. Waiting for thing to "go through channels" doesn't help if there are no channels.

[Fiendish Thingy]

20. That's extremely unusual

Most folks start receiving benefits within 90 days of application, often sooner.

Call (don’t email) your congressperson- seriously, they can sometimes cut the bureaucratic red tape.

[DFW]

27. The SSA guy told me it was extremely unusual, too

But I still haven't received a cent.

My Congressman was Colin Allred. He seemed an OK guy, but he was been extremely uncommunicative in the past. As in zero. I see no reason for him to change now. At any rate, my particular TX address has been gerrymandered again, so my Rep. is now the Republican Beth Van Duyne. I doubt, upon researching my record of contributions, that she or her office will be making any particular efforts in expediting any help in my direction.

[Igel]

32. And I'm waiting for my 2021 tax refund.

Filed it in 4/2022.

I'd like to say I expect at least 0.1% interest, but it's not happening.

Personally, I think it's been amnestied. I've been "forgiven" my refund.

[brush]

16. That'll never happen. It's too politically damaging for...

the party seen as being responsible for it. Are you listening, repugs?

A temporary resolution will be drawn up to make sure older voters, many republican, will get their SS checks regularly.

[NickB79]

18. Are we sure this wasn't the GOP plan all along?

Hit the debt limit, bleed SS to death, blame the President, and try to be seen as saviors riding in with privatized retirement as the only remaining option?

I mean, they've been salivating to get their hands on Social Security for decades for their corporate masters.

[Model35mech]

22. Brinksmanship and blackmail of Progressive admin. WAS/IS the plan

They've been out to kill the strong US federal government since it emerged when the Federals crushed the unpleasantness between the states.

And they rarely, if ever, have been so close to achieving their desired ends.

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. If Biden remains steadfast, I don't think it will get to that point.

Biden must not enter into negotiations with economic terrorists.

Budget negotiations should be entirely separate from the debt ceiling.

If Biden does this, enough Republicans (we only need 10) will eventually capitulate and support a clean bill, and force McCarthy to bring the bill to the floor, which may cost him his job.

If the house sends a clean bill to the senate, I don’t expect any problem with passage there- no senator wants to be the poster boy for killing SS.

[yaesu]

21. Why not shut down wall street by shutting down all federal regulatory

Agencies, banking, everything to do with finance in the country when the limit hits, see how long it takes for the fascists to raise the debt to infinity once their puppet masters start yanking their string.

[ForgedCrank]

25. I've been

hearing similar predictions regarding social security every since I was a kid.

[blueinredohio]

28. If true

when Social Security is gone how are we going to pay on the national debt?

[lindysalsagal]

29. Luckily, we now have brave Dems who get on mics and denounce the gqp's lies

Would be a great time for Speaker Pelosi to help with that, too.

[Marthe48]

35. Hasn't the Fed borrowed from SS before?

Al Gore wanted to put SS in a lock box. I took that to mean the funds were being used for purposes other than the intended use.

And I read that r's want to dismantle SS because they don't want Americans to find out how much money they've stolen from it.

I guess if this scenario happens, we must all help each other and ride it out.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

37. Concord a "balance the budget" advocacy group, ha, there won't be a politician left standing

The Silver haired Army with it's millions of 9 irons will lay waste to every state capital if that would happen

Scare tactics don't scare me none