The facts on Biden and Social Security

[Drunken Irishman]

Because we have a candidate who has decided to go scorched earth and attack Biden in the most disingenous way possible, here's the reality:

Biden has consistently opposed privatizing Social Security. Biden gave a strong defense of Social Security during the 2012 Vice Presidential debate:

Biden: "We will not privatize it. If we had listened to Romney and the congressman during the Bush years, imagine where all those seniors would be now if their money had been in the market. Their ideas are old, and their ideas are bad."

In 2007, Biden supported raising the cap on Social Security. He said this during the 2007 debate at Dartmouth. It's interesting that this was used against him in a recent post - however, Bernie Sanders also supports raising the cap on Social Security tax.

In that same debate, Biden opposed the idea of raising the retirement age, saying raising the cap would solve that problem.

In 1999, as Senator, Joe Biden opposed the Republican debt relief Social Security 'lock-box' proposed by Senators Spencer Abraham and Pete Domenici, which stated that the Social Security surplus could be used for other purposes than paying down the debt or actual paying out of benefits (instead, creating private retirement accounts).

In 1998, Biden opposed personal retirement accounts.

Joe Biden received a life-time rating of 89% from the American Retirement Association - exactly the same score as Ted Kennedy.

In 2012, People's Action's grassroots story project OurFuture, who has endorsed Bernie for 2020, came out in full support of Joe Biden in 2012 and his history of supporting Social Security:

The Vice President should be applauded for talking sense about our Social Security system. He has performed an important public service with his recent comments reassuring the American people that Social Security will not be changed.

In a classic bait-and-switch, too many politicians, pushed by right-wing ideologues, are plotting to use the excuse of the federal deficit to cut Social Security, even though It has not added one penny to the federal debt.

We need to get them to understand that Social Security is an earned right; that, by law, Social Security’s income must only be used for Social Security; that cutting Social Security’s modest but vital benefits will not reduce the national debt at all. How can politicians responsibly talk about changing Social Security, when they don’t even seem to understand it?

That is why it is so refreshing to hear Vice President Biden reaffirm his and the administration’s commitment to Social Security, and aligning himself with the will of the vast majority of the American people.

The fact is, another candidate's supporters can reach back as far as they want to sling mud at Joe Biden but Biden has, consistently, stood up for Social Security throughout his 40 years in public service - as senator and as Vice President.

These are the facts. It's interesting, though, that just a few years ago, many of the same progressive groups lambasting Biden, sang his praise on Social Security. Hm...

In 2012, he was a champion. In 2016, he was a champion. But all the sudden? He's advocated for cutting Social Security every step of the way the last 40 years. It's a lie. And sadly, when campaigns lie on something that significant, it means they're desperate.

[flamingdem]

1. Great research. Can't believe how many otherwise smart people are falling for

Bernie's BS about Joe and Social Security. I hope that he defends himself with the facts -- sometimes we don't hear his defense - it gets lost, perhaps on purpose.

[Cha]

2. Thank you so much for this, DI.. Bookmarked!

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FALSE!

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[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. Why only post one part of Krugman's tweet?

Even in his defense of Biden, he admits:

He was for years a member in good standing in DC's Very Serious People, who insisted that Social Security was in crisis and needed cuts.

Biden's record on this and other issues is part of what makes me nervous about his willingness to confront the modern GOP. And it's fair game for Dem rivals.

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[fleabiscuit]

3. Great post. Thanks. nt

[calimary]

4. K&R! An excellent summary.

Thanks, Drunken Irishman! A keeper!

Bookmarking.

I may even print out a copy to keep in my own document file.

[Thekaspervote]

5. Thank you! I'm bookmarking too for reference when "they" return.

[gab13by13]

6. Anyone remember Chained CPI?

I remember , it was offered up to Republicans but they were too stupid to accept it. Chained CPI would have been a foot in the door to dismantle Social Security, but I blame president Obama for that. I don't remember if Joe went along but being VP I assume it was his duty.

[BannonsLiver]

12. Yes

Sanders supporters delight in finding fault in President Obama. I have some theories of why that is but will leave it at that. Let’s just say your revisionist nonsense fits right in with those theories.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Right at the heart of it, you are. This is another great example of

if I dont get my way, then I say burn down the whole thing, which is what will happen if rump and putin stay in power.

Well stated AGAIN!

[Demsrule86]

27. That is where Obama who was a genius...took chained CPI off the table...by putting it into

an offer with a tax increase (poison pill) and few other goodies, he knew the GOP would no agree to...and we never heard about chained CPI again...

"Though it won't be in the official budget proposal, chained CPI remains "on the table," according to a White House official, but only as part of a deal that asks the wealthy to sacrifice something as well.

"Over the course of last year, Republicans consistently showed a lack of willingness to negotiate on a deficit reduction deal, refusing to identify even one unfair tax loophole they would be willing to close, despite the President's willingness to put tough things on the table," the official said.

Republicans took a different view.

"This reaffirms what has become all too apparent: the president has no interest in doing anything, even modest, to address our looming debt crisis," said Brendan Buck, the press secretary for House Speaker John Boehner."

[Buzz cook]

7. In 1994 Biden proposed a budget freeze, including Social Security

Last edited Thu Jan 23, 2020, 12:08 AM - Edit history (1)

Notice the implication that Social Security is part of the deficit problem. That was as common talking point then as it is now. The difference is that today a democratic politician would not say that.
In a similar vain Biden voted along with the Republicans for the 1995 balanced budget amendment.

He repeated this in 1995
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4846580/user-clip-joe-biden-cut-ss-4-times

Least we forget the grand bargain.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/07/budg-j11.html

The talks began in the wake of the emphatic rejection by House Republicans of any tax increases for the wealthy. Speaker John Boehner announced Saturday night that there was no support for the relatively minor tax increases proposed by Obama Thursday as part of a “grand bargain” that would have put major cuts in Social Security on the table, in addition to the huge cuts in Medicare and Medicaid already being discussed. The deal also included a pledge to carry out sweeping tax “reform” to lower rates for corporations and the wealthy.

Biden's position on SSI has "evolved" since then. But it is an out right lie to say he was always a champion for Social Security.

[Sloumeau]

10. 1894? OK, he's not that old. :) eom

[Buzz cook]

16. Good catch.

Thanks

[Drunken Irishman]

11. Biden proposed a freeze to pretty much all government spending...

Including a defense freeze that many progressives would've lauded back then.

And he had a point. The budget deficit was getting out of control and the lack of accountability from the Reagan administration, the rampant spending, tanked the economy and threw the US into a pretty dire recession in the early 90s.

But let's not equate a budget freeze to actively working to cut Social Security.

To say Biden supported cutting Social Security is disingenuous. It also is disingenuous to take a moment in the 1980s and use that as evidence he's supported cutting it for FORTY YEARS.

That just isn't true.

As for the grand bargain? It was all politics, IMO.

[Buzz cook]

17. He diid it as a deficit reduction effort

As you know Social Security has nothing to do with the debt or the deficit.

And freezing increases to social security is the same as a cut. Inflation keeps going and granny needs to eat, pay the rent, and electricity.

You do know that he said social security was on the table in a 2007 interview with Tim Russert.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18381961/ns/meet_the_press/t/mtp-transcript-april/

MR. RUSSERT: But, senator, we have a deficit. We have Social Security and Medicare looming. The number of people on Social Security and Medicare is now 40 million people. It’s going to be 80 million in 15 years. Would you consider looking at those programs, age of eligibility...

SEN. BIDEN: Absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT: ...cost of living, put it all on the table.

SEN. BIDEN: The answer is absolutely. You have to. You know, it’s—one of the things that my, you know, the political advisers say to me is, “Whoa, don’t touch that third”—look, the American people aren’t stupid. It’s a real simple proposition. We have to do—you and I were talking about Bob Dole earlier. I was one of five people—I was the junior guy in the meeting with Bob Dole and George Mitchell when we put Social Security on the right path for 60 years. I’ll never forget what Bob Dole said. After we reached an agreement about gradually raising the retirement age, etc., he said, “Look, here’s the deal, we all put our foot in the boat one at a time.” And he kicked—he stepped like he was stepping into a boat. “And we all make the following deal. If any one of the challengers running against the incumbent Democrat or Republicans attack us on this point, we’ll all stay together.” That’s the kind of leadership that is needed. Social Security’s not the hard one to solve. Medicare, that is the gorilla in the room, and you’ve got to put all of it on the table.

Vice President Biden was the front man in the "grand bargain". Sweet Jesus they put Social security on the table and the only reason it wasn't cut was because republicans didn't take the deal.



Politics is not about selling out your base, or bartering away the New Deal.

[David__77]

18. Budget freezes are not nominal cuts they are real cuts.

A great way to kill something off is to freeze it.

There is so much spending on tax cuts, then time for freezes to other stuff. That’s the logic of balanced budgets in the absence of the ability to handle revenues as well as expenditures.

[Drunken Irishman]

19. He never voted, or proposed any cuts to Social Security.

That's a fact. There isn't one vote he cast where he actively voted to cut benefits.

[Buzz cook]

21. Read my first post to this thread

Watch the videos.

Someone has lied to you.
https://slate.com/business/2020/01/joe-biden-social-security-deficit.html

In 1995, he chose to side with the new Republican majority in Congress and backed a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, warning that the national debt was threatening to consume the rest of the federal budget. “Unless this thing gets focused,” he told the New York Times, “by the time we face the music, everything I care about is going to be gone.” The amendment ultimately lost by a single vote in the Senate, because Democrats said that they were worried it would lead Congress to raid the Social Security Trust Fund in order to limit the deficit. Biden, along with other members of his party, had fought to tweak the amendment so that it would exclude the retirement program. But after that effort failed, he put his concerns aside and voted yay with the GOP anyway. When Republicans took a second doomed shot at the balanced budget amendment in 1997, he supported it again.

[Drunken Irishman]

22. Yes. He never voted to cut Social Security. My point stands.

Show me the legislation Biden supported that specifically laid out cuts to Social Security.

You can't.

[Buzz cook]

24. Your point

Is disingenuous.

Trump did not get Ukraine to investigate Biden. By your logic, Trump is in the clear.

Oh on edit you said Biden never voted for or proposed cuts.

So your point only stands on one leg.

[Drunken Irishman]

25. I'm 100% right.

Please show me the legislation Biden supported that specifically cut benefits. Give me the legislature and the number.

[Buzz cook]

31. Lol nt

.

[Drunken Irishman]

32. It's an easy task. Show me where Biden voted to cut SS.

Question, did Warren support cutting SS all those years she voted Republican?

[Demsrule86]

30. Biden did not vote for the first lockbox balanced budget bill for fear SS would be raided or

privatized...Slate is wrong...lying.

[Demsrule86]

29. No he didn't. He voted no on the first bill...Lockbox /balanced budget...he voted yes

on the second bill knowing they didn't have the votes...to help with his reelection. It was tricky then for him given the election issues but he voted No on the first bill . You should edit / delete you post to reflect the facts.

"...but after that effort failed, he put his concerns aside and voted yay with the GOP anyway..." Wrong!

Joe Biden on Social Security

"Voted NO on Social Security Lockbox & limiting national debt.
This vote limited debate on the amendment offered by Sen. Abraham (R-MI) that would have created a Social Security "lockbox" and establish limits on the public debt."


It seems Slate is lying... why am I not surprised?

https://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Joe_Biden_Social_Security.htm

[Demsrule86]

28. 95 is the same year Sanders said he was willing to consider benefits in adjustments to Social

Security...wanted to appear reasonable...so he said it too...read the Bloomberg story...there is a newspaper account. The GOP have always claimed that SS was a problem with the deficit...and in 95 it was a problem.

[OKNancy]

8. Great post - thank you

Some are not letting go of this twisting of facts

[betsuni]

9. K&R

[DanTex]

14. Well, that's half the story.

Biden has definitely been consistently opposed to privatization. And he's never been explicitly in favor of "cutting social security", but at various times during his career he has been either open to or in favor of adjustments like raising the age or reducing COLA, and these are effectively social security cuts, since they would mean people getting less social security payments than the would otherwise.

[Cha]

20. Here's the Real Story, Dan...

"It's like me going back and pointing out how Bernie voted against the Brady Bill five times while I was trying to get it passed when he was in the House, or how he voted to protect gun manufacturers," he continued. "He's made up for that, he's indicated that was [the] past."

When asked whether he would cut Social Security benefits as president, Biden responded, "No, no, no, no."

"My support for Social Security has been solid my entire career," Biden said. "I did join with a lot of other Democrats to make sure we fix Social Security."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287440450

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FALSE!

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[Cha]

15. K

[Cha]

23. K

[Gothmog]

33. Facts are important

Sanders weak lies are pissing me off