WHITEHOUSE Continues Playing "LET'S MAKE A DEAL" With GOP on Social Security & Medicare Benefit Cuts

[Segami]

Just two months ago, the Obama White House vowed it wouldn’t be sucked into debt ceiling negotiations with Republicans again. “Thank goodness” we all said, since that debacle ultimately led us to the ongoing budget mess and sequester which continues to hurt American families nationwide.

“Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters that the president "simply is not going to negotiate on the debt limit." - The Hill

Hmmm....Guess what? The White House has been meeting behind closed doors with Republicans ever since then doing exactly that...negotiating with Republicans about which middle-class benefits will be cut in order to head off another GOP led hostage taking over the debt ceiling. Clearly, past is prologue.




Here’s what the National Journal reports:

“At least a dozen Republican senators are regularly meeting with President Obama’s top aides in an attempt to plot a way forward on the looming fiscal challenges facing leaders this fall, senators involved in the meetings tell National Journal.

The meetings, which began after Obama hosted GOP senators for dinner earlier this year, are the first sign that Democrats and Republicans are in talks to strike a deal that would reduce the deficit and reform entitlements and taxes.

Republicans plan to use the debate over raising the debt limit to force Democrats to cut spending—a negotiation Obama has said he won’t engage in. But these meetings demonstrate that the president is in fact engaging Republicans in a broader discussion about debt and spending.

An administration official said White House aides have made clear to Republicans that the president’s offer from December—including $600 billion in new tax revenue for $400 billion in Medicare and other health care cuts—still stands.

Republicans are open to $600 billion in revenue, Burr said, but want to see it come from a mix of entitlement and tax reform. And the GOP opposes Obama’s $400 billion in Medicare cuts, arguing they want more structural reforms.”

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/republicans-white-house-in-talks-toward-big-fiscal-deal-20130717

Just in case you’ve forgotten, those “structural reforms” actually end traditional Medicare and put seniors at the mercy of private insurance companies, dramatically increasing their health care costs and limiting their choice of doctors. What Republicans want is passage of the Ryan/GOP budget, which is nothing more than “CouponCare” which gives seniors a coupon to go buy their health coverage from private insurance companies. The American people don’t support “CouponCare” yet the Republicans in the House have introduced this plan three times and clearly hope President Obama will give them what the Senate will not. And then there’s President Obama’s plan for Social Security and Medicare, which isn’t to be applauded either. He proposes cutting Social Security benefits for current and future retirees, veterans and the disabled plus raising taxes on the middle class through the Chained CPI.

“Cutting benefits by adopting the chained CPI would cut the COLA by 3% for workers retired for ten years and 6% for workers retired for twenty years. This cut targets both current and future retirees. Three years after enactment, this translates to a benefit cut of $130 per year in Social Security benefits for a typical 65 year-old. The cumulative cut for that individual would be $4,631 or more than three months of benefits by age 75. While supporters claim the chained CPI is more accurate; you have to ask yourself, if this chained CPI really is more accurate, then why the need to offer an incremental benefit “bump” to some beneficiaries? The answer is simple. The chained CPI does not accurately measure these groups’ expenses; in fact, it makes most of the same errors as the current formula and adds a few. Adoption of this new formula is really about cutting benefits and raising taxes on average Americans to reduce the deficit.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-richtman/mr-president-please-defin_b_2923423.html

In a letter to the White House Max also told the President:

"The 'chained CPI' is not a 'technical tweak,' and no amount of rationalization can make it so. In reality, the chained CPI is a benefit cut for the oldest and most vulnerable Americans who would be least able to afford it. To offer to trade it away outside the context of a comprehensive Social Security solvency proposal ignores the fact that Social Security does not even belong in this debate because it does not contribute to the deficit. Cutting Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit is unacceptable to the vast majority of Americans across all ages and political affiliation."

http://www.ncpssm.org/PublicPolicy/LettersTestimony/Documents/ArticleID/1118/Letter-to-President-on-Chained-CPI

cont'


http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17835-white-house-continues-playing-lets-make-a-deal-with-the-gop-on-social-security-and-medicare-benefit-cuts

[Segami]

1. "...So, everything old is new again.

....President Obama is negotiating with the GOP all over again and middle-class benefit cuts are the only thing we know for sure is on the table. You have to wonder, where are Congressional Democrats..?! "

[RC]

13. Or even the Presidential Democrat.

Errr... Never mind, that pretty obvious.

You have to wonder, where are Congressional Democrats..?! "

[GeorgeGist]

2. The Grand Bargain ...

a few extremely rich people in exchange for a vast majority of moderately poor people.

[Segami]

4. 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' Kabuki Theater.

Ring-side seats still available.

[nashville_brook]

3. they're going to kill my generation with this.

and all those who follow if we don't stop them.

[Autumn]

5. Wheel of Fortune. And the wheel is rigged.

Rec

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Elizabeth Warren: "‘Chained CPI’ is just a fancy way to say..."

“‘Chained CPI’ is just a fancy way to say ‘cut benefits for seniors, the permanently disabled, and orphans,’”
- Elizabeth Warren, FDR Democrat

[eridani]

18. Or just slow mass murder

You can substitute hamburger for steak, but there is no substitute for insulin.

[Scuba]

7. This is why the Repukes will win in 2016.

[leftstreet]

16. President Hillary Clinton will have a solid GOP Congress

I almost feel sorry for her - she won't be able to wait until her second term to claim "ObSTRuCTiON!!!"

[Scuba]

19. Then the neocons will control all of our government.

[forestpath]

8. This is Bush's 4th term.

[RC]

14. And then there are those that want Hillary to run in 2016.

bu$h's 5th and 6th terms.

[Segami]

15. +1000

[Brigid]

9. The "coopin" thing again? Really?

Do I do this or this ?

[NCarolinawoman]

10. Cuts in medicare funded hospice care started this month.

Also, medicare is cutting back on funds for home healthcare visits.Then there is the closing down of senior centers, sometimes called adult daycare. Not to mention much less funding for wheelchairs and cushions.

This infuriates me! Guess you have to get those "ENTITLEMENT" reforms!
Must balance deficit. Whoops, forgot that Syria needs some weapons!

[RobertEarl]

22. Turning wheelchairs into bombs?

So that people need more wheelchairs. If they are lucky?

I just don't understand how they can get away with this. Just don't.

[neverforget]

11. We'll be told shortly how great this is, that it's 11th dimensional chess and

how Obama doesn't really believe in these cuts, etc.

[Segami]

12. Unless Obama announces to the world that he's secretly a Vulcan,...

their '11th dimensional chess spin' or whatever they call it has become bone-dry stale.

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. When the Jedi Chessmaster script doesn't work, the good-hearted but helpless routine kicks in.

If you don't buy that one, then you're just a racist bastard/teabagger/paulite.

[reformist2]

17. As George Carlin said, "they'll get it all from you sooner or later."

The only way to prevent it is to oppose anyone who proposes a cut to the program, no matter who they are. We need to play hardball - When Obama proposes a cut, treat him the same as a Repug.

[Mojorabbit]

20. K and R nt

[Broward]

23. With Democrats like these...

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/alan-krueger-debt-ceiling-breach-like-sharknado-94862.html#ixzz2aSlsuNzk

During an hour long interview looking back on his time at the White House and on the economic challenges that lay ahead, Krueger said Obama has not given up on reaching a so-called “grand bargain” debt and deficit deal with congressional Republicans.
“The president’s last offer to Speaker [John] Boehner is still on the table,” he said. “I think he had a very sensible balanced compromise on the table.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/alan-krueger-debt-ceiling-breach-like-sharknado-94862.html#ixzz2aW45zfCr