Bad Policy, Bad Process, Bad Faith -- Bad Deal

   
The Debt Deal certainly is better than the Boehner Bill, and better still than the Tea Party favorite, the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill.  But it is nonetheless bad policy, bad process, and bad faith. Arbitrary spending caps and across-the-board spending cuts are lazy, wicked, and destructive mechanisms that disguise glacial policy change. The proposed Super Committee and its fast-tracked decisions are anti-democratic and irresponsible -- both procedurally and substantively -- delegating plenary legislative authority from the many to the few.

The losers in this deal are the people -- especially the poor, the elderly, the medically vulnerable, and the jobless. This debt deal should put an end to Democratic excuse-making for President Obama's failure to end the jobs crisis and his willingness to put the social safety net at risk. In this debt deal, we have a Democratic President serving up to slaughter Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid -- by the Super Committee, whose work must be approved as-is if across-the-board spending cuts or another default crisis are to be averted.

While the deal does not target Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security for immediate cuts, it does offer up Medicare for across-the-board cuts should the Super Committee fail to report a deficit reduction package, should the Congress reject it, or should the Congress kill a Balanced Budget Amendment. The White House says Medicare cuts will affect providers, not beneficiaries. But in the absence of Medicare-for-All or some other single payer system, cuts to Medicare providers inevitably will impose costs on beneficiaries, increasing numbers of providers who refuse to treat Medicare patients.

    Social Security and Medicaid are to be exempted from across-the-board cuts triggered by failure of the Super Committee.  But before we even get to across-the-board cuts, the Super Committee will be empowered to cut ("reform") Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as part of its deficit reduction package.  

    This morning, a White House official reportedly lamented that some Democrats just don't see the need to reduce the deficit.  What a sad day when a Democratic White House snidely condemns policy makers who express legitimate dismay at a deal that will spread poverty and economic insecurity."

Don't Put the Future of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Seurity in the Hands of a Super Congress!

Call your Congressmember and Senators today!

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/08/01/whip-the-super-congress-call-and-ask-your-member-of-congress-if-they-like-their-job/

Gang of Six Plan Would Cut Social Security for Ordinary Workers While Cutting Taxes for the Rich

Center for Economic and Policy Research: Statement on the Gang of Six Plan | Press Releases

"The budget plan produced by the Senate’s “Gang of Six” offers the promise of huge tax breaks for some of the wealthiest people in the country, while lowering Social Security benefits for retirees and the disabled. Despite claiming that they will "reform" Social Security on a "separate track, isolated from deficit reduction," the plan includes cuts to Social Security that would be felt in less than six months, as the plan calls for a new inflation formula that will reduce benefits by 0.3 percentage points a year compared with currently scheduled benefits. The plan also calls for a process that is likely to reduce benefits further for future retirees."

For more information on the Gang of Six Plan see the CEPR Statement at http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/statement-on-the-gang-of-six-plan

Stop the Cuts to the Social Safety Net!

Medicaid cuts will injure communities of color disproportionately.  11% of Asian Americans, 14% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 27% of Latinos, and 27% of African Americans gain access to health care through Medicaid.

Medicaid cuts will injure women disproportionately.  Women account for 70% of Medicaid participants.

Social Security is survival income for many older women, especially older single women.  Fifty percent of women over age 65 rely on Social Security for 80% or more of their income.  According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research: Unmarried women living alone aged 65 and older are three times more likely to be living in poverty than married women aged 65 and older (16.6 percent compared with 4.8 percent). Without Social Security benefits, more than two-thirds of these unmarried women would live in poverty.

An increase in the Social Security retirement age equals a cut in benefits.  The average benefit for women age 65-74 is $10,300; for men it is $13,400.  Neither men nor women can afford benefit cuts.

The "Chained CPI" is a COLA cut. It is a cut in benefits seniors cannot afford. According to the National Women's Law Center: For a woman who gets a benefit of $1,100 at age 65, replacing the current COLA with the chained CPI would mean $56 less per month and $672 less per year at age 80.  That may not sound like a lot to some members of Congress—but it’s equivalent to the loss of more than a week’s worth of food per month or 13 weeks of food that year.
 
Stop the Cuts -- Sign the Petition calling for Congress to RESPECT women, PROTECT Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and REJECT any budget plans that threaten the economic security of women. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6405/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4411

"Our bedrock social safety net programs should not be adjusted as part of some deal -- any changes to improve the solvency of these programs should stand on their own merits and be considered separately."

This weekend, nine Senators sent a letter to the President reminding him that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit and so should not be sacrificed in the name of deficit reduction.  In addition to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who sent a strong letter to the President last week, the signers included Senators Akaka (D-HI), Begich (D-Alaska), Blumenthal (D-CT), Franken (D-MN), Merkeley (D-Oregon), Stabenow (D-Mich), and Whitehouse (D-RI).

The letter reads:

Sen. Bernie Sanders: We Will Not Balance the Budget on the Backs of Working Families | Truthout

Please Sign Senator Sanders' letter urging President Obama to stand up to the Republicans in the budget battle: http://sanders.senate.gov

Sen. Bernie Sanders: We Will Not Balance the Budget on the Backs of Working Families Truthout

Single Mother Poverty Rates Remain Exceptionally High

single-mother-poverty-fs-eic.pdf (application/pdf Object)

According to a new report by Legal Momentum, single mother poverty in the US persists at a high rate, even when Food Stamps and Earned Income Credits are factored in.

Supreme Court Places High Hurdle for Women to Overcome Pay Discrimination | National Women's Law Center

Supreme Court Places High Hurdle for Women to Overcome Pay Discrimination | National Women's Law Center

Women Losing Ground as Jobs Crisis Rages » New Deal 2.0

Women Losing Ground as Jobs Crisis Rages » New Deal 2.0

Social Security Facts

From the National Women's Law Center: State-by-State Data on the Importance of Social Security to Women and Families:

State-by-State Factsheets: Social Security Vital to Women and Families | National Women's Law Center