12% Reduction In Social Security Appropriations?

Let's make those ASSHOLES long for the good old days of the Town Halls of April and May!

The House Appropriations Committee has announced a schedule for markup of spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011. The Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes the Social Security Administration, is set for subcommittee markup on July 26 and for full committee markup on August 2

http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=298

More importantly, the House Appropriations Committee has announced subcommittee allocations

http://appropriations.house.gov/_files/51111FY2012SubcommitteeAllocations302bs.pdf, that is the total amount of each subcommittee appropriation. The Labor-HHS Subcommittee has been told to cut appropriations by 12% from FY 2011 and by 26% from the President's budget. This would render the agency just about non-functional. You can fantasize all you want from whatever cost savings scheme you can imagine but you cannot come up with any way to reduce Social Security's operating budget by 12% and leave the agency able to do its mission. The only way to accomplish this would be with massive personnel reductions, either by a huge reduction in force or by regular, frequent furloughs of all of Social Security's personnel or by a combination of the two.

11th LD Democrats Resolution 2011-04

Resolution Against Cuts to the Social Security Administration Budget for 2011

WHEREAS the Republican majority House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, the budget for fiscal year 2011, which among other things cuts the Social Security Administration (SSA) budget by $1.7 billion dollars; and

WHEREAS the SSA estimates that a cut of this magnitude could force it to shut down for up to a month; and

WHEREAS benefit processing for 700,000 new retirees, widows, disabled workers and children would be delayed, and nearly 8 million calls from current and future beneficiaries would go unanswered ; and

WHEREAS H.R 1 would cost tax payers money by eliminating funding devoted to catching errors and overpayments; and

WHEREAS the SSA budget is entirely unrelated to the deficit, as it is funded directly from the Social Security Trust Fund and not from general revenues; and

WHEREAS Representative Jim McDermott and 123 members of the house have written to Speaker John Boehner protesting these cuts; and

WHEREAS Senator Maria Cantwell has joined Senators Akaka, Blumenthal, Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Harkin, Lautenberg, Menendez, Merkley, Mikulski, Reed, Sanders, Schumer, Stabenow, and Whitehouse to establish the Defend Social Security Caucus;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 11th LD Democrats commend Senator Cantwell and Representative McDermott for their strong stand in defense of Social Security; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 11th LD Democrats call on the other members of our Democratic congressional delegation to sign on to these initiatives; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 11th LD Democrats call on President Obama to veto any budget proposal containing cuts to the SSA; and

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the 11th LD Democrats will send copies of this resolution to our Democratic members of Congress, President Obama, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

Submitted to the 11th Legislative District Democrats for endorsement at its meeting of April 19, 2011.

Disposition: Passed unanimously 4/19/11

SSI, Medicare, Medicaid...once you make sure rich folk pay that on their dividends and their capital gains, the budget balances and the whole Gordian knot unravels itself.

They are just trying to close Social Security Administration offices this year. Presumably because they are a pack of amoral sociopathic shitstains.

the work dysfunctional (late checks, poor customer service) then poor-mouth it & talk up how the program needs to be changed.