Washington, DC – Representatives Edwards (MD-04), Grijalva (AZ-07), Ellison (IL-05), Schawkowsky (IL-06), Defazio (OR-04), and others condemned the use of the chained CPI today in any deficit reduction deal. The chained CPI represents an immediate benefits cut for over 56 million seniors, children, veterans, and the disabled. The Congressional Budget Office finds that the chained CPI grows more slowly than does the traditional CPI, stating “the effects would be felt with each [cost-of-living adjustment], when benefits would be slightly smaller than they would have been without the change in indexing. The impact would be greater the longer people received benefits.” Therefore, the average Social Security recipient, who at age 65 receives just $15,000 per year, will suffer cuts of $650 a year by age 75 and $1,130 a year by age 85. All total, those losses by age 95 for a retiree with average earnings would be nearly $25,000. Members of Congress were joined by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), and numerous other groups (see below).
“We must reach a deal and we must strengthen Social Security. But those two goals must not be conflated at this critical moment. Using the chained CPI as a mechanism to achieve savings is unfair to beneficiaries and further reduces already modest benefits for millions of Americans,” said Representative Edwards.
“The less money our Social Security recipients – including 9 million veterans – are able to spend, the less money goes to the businesses that create jobs. Chained CPI makes life harder for millions of retirees, weakens Social Security and doesn’t reduce the deficit by a penny. It’s a Beltway fig leaf that I will never support, and I call on my colleagues to make their feelings known as soon as possible before this becomes yet another piece of conventional wisdom that makes things worse,” said Representative Grijalva.
More Here:
http://donnaedwards.house.gov/press-releases-statements/edwards-grijalva-ellison-schakowsky-defazio-and-others-chained-cpi-should-have-no-part-in-deficit-deal/
There were 102 Democrats who signed the letter saying Social Security should be off the table. So, it will be difficult to pass something like this.
Thanks for bringing this up Segami!
= new reply since forum marked as read
