Labor & Employment Law

Proposed Commission Is Fast Track to Cutting Social Security, Medicare

By Mike Hall

Next week, the U.S. Senate will vote on legislation that a few years down the road could slash Social Security and Medicare benefits without any further debate or consideration by Congress.

The so-called Entitlement Reform Commission is the creation of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who plan to offer an amendment to create the commission to debt ceiling legislation.

This special appointed commission would supposedly create a blueprint to reduce the deficit by cutting vital government programs, including Social Security and Medicare. But under the Gregg-Conrad scheme, the panel’s recommendation would be “fast tracked” with no amendments allowed, just an up-or-down vote, and that, says the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), is a process

designed to minimize Congress’ role in making these vital decisions. Or as some might argue, to provide political cover for those decisions.

In a new video, the group says backers of the commission have one goal in mind:

cutting these vital programs beyond what Congress has ever allowed, without a single congressional hearing. Without a full debate on the floor of Congress, no amendments, no give and take.

In a recent Huffington Post column, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), writes:

Current and near retirees will badly need their Social Security after the Wall Street boys’ machinations destroyed their home equity and retirement accounts. The vast majority of middle-income families will have very little other than Social Security to support them in retirement.

Baker, the NCPSSM and others point out that the Social Security did not contribute to the nation’s current economic woes and has been a lifeline for millions during this crisis. In a letter signed by the AFL-CIO, the Alliance for Retired Americans and more than two dozen other groups, the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) writes:

Social Security is not a part of the deficit problem nor is it part of an “entitlement crisis.” Its cost is projected to consume only 6.2 percent of GDP by 2030 and to remain slightly below that level for 50 more years.

Even as the banking and financial systems threatened to collapse, Social Security continued to provide a reliable economic lifeline to millions of children, disabled workers, retired workers, and spouses (including widowed and divorced spouses) dependent on those benefits. These benefits helped to offset lost earnings and stimulated the economy by maintaining purchasing power.

In December, 30 national groups, including the Campaign for America’s Future and the AFL-CIO, strongly urged Congress to oppose creation of such a commission.

Those supporting this circumvention of the normal process have stated openly the desire to avoid political accountability. Americans?seniors, women, working families, people with disabilities, young adults, children, people of color, veterans, communities of faith and others?expect their elected representatives to be responsible and accountable for shaping such significant, far-reaching legislation.

Read the full statement here. For more information, visit NCPSSM’s blog, Entitled to Know.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).