General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSanders Named to Budget Conference
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/101713
More about the Senate budget here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023869945
Stop giving Republicans an inch. Democrats need to remain united. During the Senate budget process, Democrats rejected chained CPI.
WASHINGTON, March 22 The Senate tonight voted to block cuts in benefits for Social Security and disabled veterans.
The amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) put the Senate on record against changing how cost-of-living increases are calculated in a way that would result in significant cuts.
The time has come for the Senate to send a very loud and clear message to the American people: We will not balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans who have lost their arms, their legs and their eyesight defending our country. We will not balance the budget on the backs of the men and women who have already sacrificed for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor on the widows who have lost their husbands in Iraq and Afghanistan defending our country, Sanders said.
The amendment opposed switching from the current method of measuring inflation to a so-called chained consumer price index. President Barack Obama favors a chained CPI as part of what the White House calls a grand bargain that Obama hopes to reach with congressional Republicans.
The proposed change would affect more than 3.2 million disabled veterans receiving disability compensation benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans who started receiving VA disability benefits at age 30 would have their benefits reduced by $1,425 at age 45, $2,341 at age 55 and $3,231 at age 65. Benefits for more than 350,000 surviving spouses and children who have lost a loved one in battle also would be cut. Dependency Indemnity Compensation benefits already average less than $17,000 a year.
More than 55 million retirees, widows, orphans and disabled Americans receiving Social Security also would be affected by the switch to a chained CPI. That figure includes 9 million veterans with an average yearly benefit of about $15,500. A veteran with average earnings retiring at age 65 would get nearly a $600 benefit cut at age 75 and a $1,000 cut at age 85. By age 95, when Social Security benefits are probably needed the most, that veteran would face a cut of $1,400 a reduction of 9.2 percent.
A chained CPI would cut Social Security benefits for average senior citizens who are 65 by more than $650 a year by the time they are 75 years old, and by more than $1,000 once they reach 85.
Groups supporting Sanders include AARP, the AFL-CIO, National Organization for Women, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS and others.
Sanders is chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and the founder of the Defending Social Security Caucus.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=41f5d32d-b4bf-4f0e-9ceb-7df622262cac
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney lauded the Senate for passing a budget early Saturday, its first in four years, which he said "will create jobs and cut the deficit in a balanced way." He also criticized the House for passing a budget that eliminates the deficit over the next ten years entirely through cuts, saying that "We will continue to insist that any solution has balance."
The full statement below:
Today, the Senate passed a budget plan that will create jobs and cut the deficit in a balanced way. Like the President's plan, the Senate budget cuts wasteful spending, makes tough choices to strengthen entitlements, and eliminates special tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthiest Americans to reduce the deficit.
The President and Democrats in Congress are willing to make difficult choices so we can cut the deficit while laying the foundation for long term middle class job growth. And it is encouraging that both the Senate and House have made progress by passing budgets through regular order. We will continue to insist that any solution has balance. The House Republican budget refuses to ask for a single dime of deficit reduction from closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and the well-connected but instead makes deep cuts to education and manufacturing while asking seniors and the middle class to pay more. That's not an approach we support and it's not an approach the majority of the American people support.
Now it is time for our leaders to come together to find common ground. The President has put a plan on the table that reflects compromise, and he will continue to work with both sides to see if there is an opportunity to reach a solution to our budget challenges. We hope we will find this compromise because that is what the American people expect and what they deserve.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/white-house-praises-senate-budget
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022558947
Mass
(27,315 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)will be some truth spoken in that room.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Amazing, surprising choice.
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)K&R.
ebbie15644
(1,216 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)MANative
(4,112 posts)brer cat
(24,591 posts)SamYeager
(309 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)malthaussen
(17,215 posts)Unless they hope it will give some color of legitimacy to their committee. After all, he's just one voice.
-- Mal
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)Now I feel a little less sick and scared about the next round.
Keep fighting for us Bernie.
gopiscrap
(23,763 posts)Greybnk48
(10,170 posts)Put Senator Warren on the committee and I'll think I'm dreaming.
northoftheborder
(7,572 posts)SunSeeker
(51,646 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Bring it on, Bernie!
Perhaps a new day is dawning.
As I wrote that, a beam of sunlight fell on my face from a clearing sky above me. Literally.
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)better Democrat than most Democrats.
What's next? Warren replacing Durbin?
Grayson becoming Majority Whip in 2014?
shireen
(8,333 posts)I'd PAY to watch him in action as whip -- maybe a hidden camera to watch him "whip" the conservative Dems. evilgrin: He has such a way with words, makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. Cool guy. Glad he's back in Congress.
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)I miss Dennis.
Warren, Hinchey, Raul G, John Lewis, Wyden, Whitehouse, Reed, Franken, Sanders. . .you can see where I stand politically.
shireen
(8,333 posts)NCarolinawoman
(2,825 posts)Great post that put a smile on my face.
MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)President Obama and Dems are IN CHARGE!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)sheshe2
(83,846 posts)flamingdem
(39,316 posts)Love him
AzDar
(14,023 posts)Bernie!
shireen
(8,333 posts)I'm delighted to see Sanders there. He is the conscience that the entire Congress should have!
The list
Progressives
Patty Murray (Wash.)
Ron Wyden (Ore.)
Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)
Bernie Sander (I-Vt.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
Mark Warner (Va.)
Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
Chris Coons (Del.)
Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)
Tim Kaine (Va.)
Angus King (I-Maine)
Interesting to see the two Independents on the committee.
Republicans
Jeff Sessions (Ala.)
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
Mike Enzi (Wyo.)
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Pat Toomey (Pa.)
Ron Johnson (Wis.)
Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Roger Wicker (Miss.)
House
Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Tom Cole (R-Okla.)
Tom Price (R-Ga.)
Diane Black (R-Tenn.)
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.),
James Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.).
Why so few from the House?
rurallib
(62,433 posts)sure would have liked to see Warren.
Boy, looks like the Republican is civil war era group. And not from the republican party of that era.
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)the fact that Senate Democrats already rejected chained CPI. This is the budget they will be negotiating in conference.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Hope Sanders will have them wishing they'd never opened their lying mouths to hurt so many people.
Robbins
(5,066 posts)These won't just give the republicans what they want with nothing our side wants.Intresting both the independent senators on
there plus Clyburn from the house.
Volaris
(10,274 posts)Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)And they are in charge of Budget negotiations??? Chickens, your guardian fox is here!
No Vested Interest
(5,167 posts)They are persons of depth, not just chatter.
Clyburn is the only AA that I see on the list.
Van Hollen is good; don't know much about Ms. Lowey's skills re budgets, though, now that I think about it, she may be on the House Budget committee.
Perhaps more House members will be appointed.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...4 rushpublicans and 3 Democratic congresscritters. That's about right. I'd like to flip that number but that will require some major ass-kicking next November...
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Snowden is still a hero.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)Is he still stuck in Russia?
raging moderate
(4,307 posts)Bernie Sanders is the closest we have to a knight on a white horse. If anyone can save the day, he can. And he will.
dotymed
(5,610 posts)I can not believe that an actual PEOPLES CHAMPION will be on the budget committee.
Watch out Bernie, they will try hard to corrupt you.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)In the budget negotiations is that they didn't expect the Senate to get serious and pass a budget so they passed a document that was little more than Republican talking points so they are saddled with the Ryan budget, essentially bringing a knife to a gun fight. The Senate budget is a pretty balanced document so any budget that emerges will look a lot like the Senate budget and that will rankle a lot of Republicans thinking they are entitled to get most of what they want but the Ryan budget does not serve them well for that purpose. Smarting from defeat, the Republican will again be looking for ransom to sooth their dented ego and that will be the biggest obstacle going forward -- damaged ego. Well, that ego is about to sustain a few more dents along the way. This probably means we go to the brink once again as they are slow learners.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)2banon
(7,321 posts)Isn't that where the Chained CPI was spawned? And wasn't Ryan on that committee too? I'm trying to remember and piece this bit together with that..
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)While it does use Simpson Bowles targets it does not do it in a like manner. Here is a link that has links to either a summary or the detail of the Senate budget. http://www.budget.senate.gov/democratic/index.cfm/senatebudget
I only read the summary.
2banon
(7,321 posts)dsteve01
(312 posts)I enjoyed reading this.
CrispyQ
(36,492 posts)Great news!
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)And my Congressman Raul.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)Too bad they didn't put Warren and Grayson on the committee. But this is a good turn of events at least.
Give 'em hell, Bernie!
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)This is a huge job. I am sure Senator Sanders can handle it.
k&r
TBF
(32,084 posts)AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)nm
Cha
(297,503 posts)Babel_17
(5,400 posts)hopemountain
(3,919 posts)for the people! his straightforward thinking, understanding of the issues & how things work in congress will be a great asset on the committee. he has a quiet but firm style - and is respectful of everyone.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)blondie58
(2,570 posts)He is the perfect man to stand up for the working class. I wish we had more like him.
diabeticman
(3,121 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)cheapdate
(3,811 posts)TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)Let's be honest here, it would take THREE SANDERS' on the committee just to counterbalance RYAN, let alone the others.
Still. This is a definite step in the right direction!
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)A lot of people, especially young people, do not understand how low Social Security benefits are.
Here is one calculation about the average Social Security benefit for 2012:
he average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker was about $1,230 at the beginning of 2012. This amount changes monthly based upon the total amount of all benefits paid and the total number of people receiving benefits.
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/13/
How much would a decrease of $1,000 per month in the CPI increases leave for the retiree in terms of purchasing power 20 years down the line?
I met a young man on the train this weekend. He had just got a job and was preparing to work hard. He said something about how easy it must be to be retired and on Social Security. I told him in dollar terms just how little Social Security pays. He was stunned. It's less than most people think, a lot less. That's the average. People who earn only minimum wage now will have far less. They really, really need the full CPI as do most seniors on Social Security. It isn't a penny too much right now.
We should raise the minimum wage. That will raise the income that is the basis for payroll or Social Security taxes. That's a good way to deal with the problem of the budget deficits. The minimum wage should be drastically increased.
sueh
(1,826 posts)RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)I would like to see him kick Ryan's ass!
Bernie may be older, but he is wiser.
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Write to him massively. He wants and needs your support!
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
B Calm
(28,762 posts)libdude
(136 posts)for ordinary people. Sen. Sanders has been a consistent voice for those who have no voice in government. I am sure that President Obama has been notified that it is Congress i.e. this group that will set the agenda. This morning he is still speaking of entitlement reform which is his compromise flag. This has to be rejected, this apeasement has damage this country by allowing the radical right wing to set the agenda, by being reasonable and to some extent weak, Obama has created the atmosphere that gave the Republicans the boldness to shut down the government and play with the debt ceiling. If he lacks the heart for the fight, stay out of the ring and let those who will throw punches get in. You do not compromise with people that you call extortionists, you destroy them.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)vi5
(13,305 posts)Between this and the standing strong on the debt/default/shutdown debackle there may be signs of life yet in my Democratic party.