Today's News from Sen. Bernie Sanders:

[Playinghardball]

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Senator Sanders

La Raza During a speech at La Raza’s annual conference, Sen. Sanders intensified his appeal to minority voters taking a stronger stand on stamping out racism and opening a path to citizenship for immigrants, The Associated Press, MSNBC and Latin Times reported. Some 400 convention-goers at the National Council of La Raza's annual meeting in Kansas City packed a room to hear Sanders talk about his own experience as the child of immigrants and lay out his agenda, the Los Angeles Times reported. Sanders spoke to a filled-to-capacity crowd, Fox News reported.

Trump Sanders told the audience at the nation’s largest Hispanic advocacy group that the country has made progress in improving race relations. “No one—not Donald Trump nor anyone else—will be successful in dividing us based on race or our country of origin, The Wall Street Journal reported. Sanders was referring to Trump’s depiction of immigrants as killers and rapists. “An outrage,” Sanders said. “Hate-spewing,” O’Malley claimed. “Appalling,” Clinton chimed in, according to The Kansas City Star.

Social Security Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Sanders, urged President Barack Obama Monday to expand Social Security benefits for millions of seniors nationwide. In a letter to be delivered to the White House Monday, the lawmakers say shrinking employer retirement packages have made it more difficult for retirees to survive without additional Social Security dollars, The International Business Times reported.

Youth Unemployment Sanders said that for African-Americans between the ages of 17 and 20, "the real unemployment rate … is 51 percent." PolitiFact said “his terminology was off, but the numbers he used check out, and his general point was correct … so we rate it mostly true.”

More here: http://1.usa.gov/1O9HHjK

[merrily]

1. Without Bernie, who would have sought expansion of Social Security?

From the link in the OP:

"More than half (53 percent) of today's working Americans are not expected to have sufficient resources upon retirement to maintain their standard of living," the Democratic lawmakers wrote. An expansion of Social Security benefits would be enormously popular, they argued. "This support crosses party lines: 90 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents, and 73 percent of Republicans favor expanding Social Security," the letter said.

The letter was signed by 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt; Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and 68 House Democrats. Liberal groups including the AFL-CIO, the Campaign for America's Future, the National Organization for Women and Social Security Works have also urged the Obama administration to allocate more funding for retirees.

Roughly 84 million Americans will be at least 65 years old by 2050. That's almost double the number of senior citizens living in the United States in 2012.

Most elderly Americans depend on Social Security benefits as a major source of income. The average monthly benefit is $1,294.

THREE Senators. Count 'em THREE.

Eliminate the frickin' cap.