Why Is No One Talking About the GOP’s Plan to Send Millions of Disabled Americans Into Poverty?

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/198193/why-no-one-talking-about-gops-plan-send-millions-disabled-americans-poverty



Despite their virtues, many conservative Republicans have an unfortunate habit of picking on the weak and disadvantaged, slandering the people least able to fight back. We saw a glimpse of this callousness in Mitt Romney’s disparagement of the “47 percent” who are “takers” living off the hard-working “makers.” The newly empowered GOP majority in Congress is going down the same road—targeting the millions of sick or injured Americans who receive Social Security disability payments.

This is a favorite old canard of self-righteous right-wingers. They label these unfortunate people as shiftless and suggest none too subtly that many are faking their injuries and illnesses. The GOP has been pushing this cold-hearted slander for at least thirty-five years, ever since the glorious reign of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s (who remembers Reagan’s imaginary “Welfare Queen” who drove to pick up her welfare check in a Cadillac?).

McConnell-Boehner Republicans are now reviving the Gipper’s big lie, claiming the Social Security system is in crisis because of swollen disability benefits. Allegedly to save the system, these so-called fiscal conservatives intend to cut benefits and throw out those supposedly able-bodied slackers. Once again, their facts are bogus. Never mind, their story line is concocted to arouse anti-government resentment among people who are themselves strapped for income.

This is why we need “bleeding-heart liberals”—politicians who will stand up to defend the scorned and tell the truth about the Republicans’ propaganda. This season, the country has two tough-minded senators assuming that role—Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders is ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and Brown is ranking member of the Finance Committee’s subcommittee on Social Security. They will be heard in Washington. Given broad public support, they can smash Mitch McConnell’s plot to disable and maybe destroy Social Security.

[still_one]

1. It is either because the media isn't reporting it, the Democrats are too lazy to bring it up, or

both

[Scuba]

3. It's because the media is paid to not report it ...

... and so are many Democrats.

[tridim]

5. Which Democrats are paid to not report it?

[Scuba]

7. Well, we could start with those who are tight with Pete Peterson.

You know, like Bill and Hillary.

[tridim]

8. I'm not a Hillary supporter, but no, neither of them are "paid" to cover up GOP bullshit.

You wrote there are "many Democrats" paid to cover up GOP bullshit.

You must be an insider... Who are they?

[Scuba]

9. Take a look at the Democrats in Congress who receive contributions from Wall Street.

[FrodosPet]

11. That is all (or almost all) of them, isn't it?

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2014&cid=N00033492&type=I&newmem=N

Sen. Elizabeth Warren 2012

Securities & Investment $604,250

So that alone is not an indication that the member of Congress is beholden to money

[think]

29. Are you really trying to compare that to Clinton's laundry list?

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00000019

Seriously?

[winter is coming]

2. Because the hidden violence of willfully starving the disabled is less sexy than ISIS. n/t

[rtracey]

4. Because

Because the Right wing of this country doesn't give s hit about the healthy people of this country, do you really think they give a shit about the unhealthy and disabled.... I reiterate the voting meme of this year and plead with the lazy assed democrats to please vote in 2016 to regain control of this country.....

[world wide wally]

6. Lost me after the third word.

I didn't know they had any virtues.

[RiverLover]

10. Elizabeth Warren & Rachel Maddow are talking about it (along with Bernie)

Social Security faces threat from ‘ideological war’
02/12/15 12:36 PM—Updated 02/12/15

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a message to supporters yesterday, warning of a real threat to Social Security. By any fair measure, she’s right.

“We’ve known for years that Social Security Disability Insurance is set to run low in 2016, and most people assumed that another bipartisan reallocation was coming,” the senator wrote. “But now, thanks to the Republican ideological war on our most important national safety net, disabled Americans could suddenly face a 20% cut in their Social Security checks next year.”

Let’s recap for those just joining us. The Social Security system provides disability payments to Americans who want to work but can’t for health reasons. For generations, when the disability-insurance program runs short on funds, Congress transfers money from elsewhere in the Social Security system to prevent benefit cuts. The solution, sometimes called “reallocation,” has never been especially controversial – in fact, it’s been done 11 times over the last seven decades.

But last month, congressional Republicans adopted a rule change that makes it almost impossible to approve the usual, straightforward fix. GOP lawmakers seem to want to create the conditions for a crisis.

All of which led to an important Senate hearing yesterday.


Carolyn Colvin, acting commissioner for the Social Security Administration, urged senators to act first to avert the crisis at hand and then begin serious negotiations on finding a longer-term solution. She said the threatened cut in disability payments – about 19 percent – would be a “death sentence” for many of the poorest recipients, but time and again, she refused to opine on more concrete options going forward.

When Colvin read aloud the president’s six principles for future reforms, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was scornful. “That’s a set of principles that makes sure we do absolutely nothing meaningful,” Graham said. “If that’s the president’s plan, we’ll never get there.”

And by “meaningful,” it appears Graham and other Senate Republicans are waiting for the White House to propose cuts to Social Security. (Ironically, President Obama was open to modest Social Security cuts as part of a grand bargain with GOP lawmakers, but Republicans have refused to consider any possible concessions and effectively ruled out the possibility of a compromise.)

The Politico report added that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Budget Committee’s ranking member, “angrily accused the GOP of ‘manufacturing a crisis’ to hide its intent to resurrect past proposals to cut Social Security benefits and privatize the system.”...

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/social-security-faces-threat-ideological-war

[daleanime]

14. Thank goodness for them.....

I doubt we will hear much about it from most the MSM unless we can some how embarrass them into it.

[freebrew]

12. So many issues...

so little time, and bandwidth.

[olegramps]

13. Many Republicans are evil to the very core of their rotten souls.

I especially find Boehner to be loathsome. Having been raised a Catholic, I was made very aware of the Catholic Church's support of the working class. The fact is that it was the Catholic Clergy who were a major force in the formation of unions. Several popes wrote encyclicals calling for fair wages and health benefits for the working class. The present pope is not unique in his condemnation of the exploitation of workers. Therefore, I find Boehner who claims to be a Catholic to be a total fraud. He makes me want to vomit. I can only wish the Pope Francis takes him to task for his anti-Christian actions to starve helpless children and the disabled. He is an abomination that should be shunned like the plague.

[mountain grammy]

15. because disabled Americans collecting Social Security Disablity

are in the minority and there aren't enough of them to influence policy. Money influences policy, corporations supply the money, the media are corporations. Follow the money.

It's not about "bleeding heart liberals," it's about a mainstream media that won't report what our representatives are doing and saying and won't ask the hard question: "how will this affect struggling Americans?"

If our nightly national network news would have two segments every evening: one on what the federal government did that day and how it affects non rich Americans, and what happened that day regarding global climate change, we just might give a shit. Millions of Americans get their "news" from the national network nightly news and they don't have a clue.

[madville]

16. Have they proposed anything?

Or is all this still stemming from the rule change where they have to vote on shortfall transfers from the OASDI trust fund to SSDI instead of it being automatic?

You would think they would be for SSDI drawing down the OASDI trust fund faster, right now OASDI is good to 2032, if SSDI starts drawing from it all trust funds will be depleted by 2027.

[Jack Rabbit]

17. We can talk about it, can't we?

We don't need the various media news departments' permission, do we? They can not talk about it if they wish and tell us who's getting divorced in Hollywood instead.

[RoBear]

18. VIRTUES???

Virtues? WHAT virtues? Pardon me for yelling, but I quit reading when I saw that.

Really, now...

[Amishman]

19. because it could be more difficult to defend than you might expect

The right has their talking points all lined up and for once they managed to spin their story to line up with a few facts.

Their argument is that the program is draining too fast because of abuse. They point to statistics that indicate that the rate of use of these programs is growing faster than the overall population, and that most of the increase is in 'difficult to prove mental or musculoskeletal conditions'. They will gloss over the fact that we are much better at identifying and diagnosing mental disorders than we were 20+ years ago.

If we pick a fight, they will push for 'reforms' that will make access to the program more difficult. They will likely roll out their favorite talking point about the declining labor participation rate.

I think the plan is to let it happen and try and leverage the resulting pain in 2016.

[kickysnana]

20. Because years of propaganda served up by the likes of Rush Limbaugh works

Because they really did invade the churches, schools and work places and brainwash America into mindless fascists that prefer lies to truth.

No hope? Blame the guy who had nothing to do with it of course, that is the new Amerkin way.

[workinclasszero]

21. Because Fox "news" is 27/7/365 telling americans

that all is well and the republicans are suddenly concerned about the poor and unemployed that the scary black man in the white house created.

As soon as the bagger congress gets rid of all the welfare cheats and slackers, it will be a new day in Amerika!

This is what most working class people want to believe and they will believe it until the day their SSI check is cut off and they apply for food assistance and find its no longer there.

When they try to survive in their 60's after the republican party finally destroys social security....

When they lose all health care and are living in cardboard boxes under bridges....THEN and only then will they fucking get it!

24/7 propaganda based on fear and racial prejudice WORKS people!

[dsc]

22. I am terrified for my siblings

Both of them are on disability and especially my sister will be in serious trouble if this cut comes through. She has very little leeway as it is and this cut would likely devistate her.

[undergroundpanther]

23. I can't live

On less than $700.10 a month. I will be on the street. Fuck republicans fuck every last one and thier democrat pets forever,remember freedom just another word for nothing left to lose. Back a big cat into a corner are they really so dumb as to deny it food than poke it with sticks? Apparently a lot of very rich assholes are That stupid.

[CountAllVotes]

27. It is difficult enough as it is for me

We are already living in poverty! What is this crap about "sending the disabled into poverty" exactly?

I'm trying to get by on $900.00 a month and my husband is on SSA and gets less than $500.00/month and is a veteran and he is going blind.

Just yesterday I went to pick up an RX for him and his eye condition and the co-payment went from $40.00 to $100.00. I did not have the extra $60.00 to pay for it and his doctor is willing to give us a "sample" for the time being whatever this means. am I going to do?

Thanks a lot Obamacare.

These people would like to be rid of the disabled in our society. It does not matter how long we may have worked and contributed to the "system" before becoming to ill to work. It does not matter than I personally worked for years preparing grants to find a cure for AIDS does it?

These bastards are indeed low-life scum. They prefer to bury their heads in Wall Street casino begging for more free money and as for disabled Americans, well screw us because we are considered to be parasites and worthy of nothing!

Disgusting situation at best -- let these pigs try living on next to nothing! They would not last one week living like this!

[Rex]

24. Because it would be costly to talk about obvious problems in this country?

Besides these are repukes we are talking about, they don't do fair.

[liberal N proud]

26. Because M$M is nothing more than a propaganda machine for those who can pay for it.