AK Senator Begich to introduce an act to protect/preserve Social Security this coming Monday....

[msongs]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/03/1206754/-AK-Sen-Mark-Begich-D-Will-Introduce-The-Protecting-Preserving-Social-Security-Act-On-Monday

According to the dKos article there are 3 main points in the legislation:

1) remove SS income cap
2) change the basis used to adjust increases for seniors

3)remove penalties on honest citizens who paid in big money to SS from jobs, then got a job with another retirement.

#3 is a big deal! If you worked SS jobs for 30 years and spent 10 years in a pension paying job your SS is cut by 75% for no other valid reason.

[rurallib]

1. I am liking it!

[MotherPetrie]

2. K&R

[Thinkingabout]

3. #3 is really a big deal, several people I know has worked on jobs paying SS and also jobs with state

And school systems and are penalized for doing so. They qualify for SS and this is figured on the number of years paid into the system but large amounts are taken away simply because they have worked in places which has their own retirements and did not pay into FICA those years.

[Hekate]

19. Hubby taught at community college for a couple of decades,after first being a programmer in business

He retired from teaching last year, and he knew his SS was going to be downgraded because the public school system has its own retirement pension plan. He actually went back into the industry, and aside from enjoying the work, he takes satisfaction in knowing that he is gradually building his SS pension back up.

It is weird, isn't it?

[Recursion]

22. But if you do that you also get a partial pension, right?

Maybe I'm missing your point?

[Thinkingabout]

23. If you work on jobs for twenty years and pay FICA you are entitled to receive an amount of money

determined by the amount of money you earned during those 20 years. If you then or previously go to work for schools or state agencies which does not pay FICA then when you start to draw your SSI they take away a portion of your SSI, sometimes 1/3 but if you had not worked in jobs which did not pay FICA then you get the full amount. It is like a penalty for having taken a job without paying FICA.

[mick063]

4. Add him to my list of favorable politicians.

Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, and now.......Mark Begich.


We need to keep this running list current and up to date.

Edit: Now that it looks like CPI might be involved, belay that last order!

[tarheelsunc]

11. Your newest favorable politician...

opposes universal background checks, supports ANWR drilling, and prides himself as an "independent" on his official website.

[mick063]

18. For now, any Democrat that looks to strengthen Social Security is rare.

Not that I am a single issue voter, but SS is near the top of my list. When a politician comes out in favor of strengthening the safety net, I take notice.

The points you made are noted. I posted before taking a closer look.

With respect to "my newest favorable politician", you failed to read my edit, but I won't hold it against you.

We are on the same side of your fore mentioned issues.

[HiPointDem]

5. "change the basis used to adjust increases for seniors" sounds like chained cpi.

on edit: *supposedly* it's cpi-e, an experimental cpi specific to spending of the elderly.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/18/1202889/-Sen-Mark-Begich-Both-Courageous-Hero-and-Cowardly-Devil

my reservations with *any* changes in SS still stand. why the rush to change *anything* when SS is forecast to be able to pay out 100% until 2033? we can easily wait 15 years, by which time the entire landscape may have changed.


#3 is a big deal! If you worked SS jobs for 30 years and spent 10 years in a pension paying job your SS is cut by 75% for no other valid reason.

i believe you're misrepresenting what actually happens here.

[DJ13]

6. Yeah, #2 sounds like C-CPI

If it was an increase it seems it would be described as such in glowing terms.

[HiPointDem]

8. if so, the begich plan is to tax more, spend less, build the SS surplus even bigger & borrow more!

[Nite Owl]

9. It's the cpi-e!!!!!

Fron the Daily Kos article:

"The second part of that bill would revise how SS payments are adjusted to better reflect how America’s senior spend their income. Currently, payments are based on a Consumer Price Index model that does not accurately reflect higher costs seniors pay, for medications, for example. The bill would create a CPI – E for elders."



Yeah!!!!

[reformist2]

10. An alternative that revises CPI upwards? Awesome. They'll be sorry they ever mentioned chained CPI.

[DJ13]

12. That would be a winner!

Of course, the cons (both party's) wont want it since it wouldnt free up money to funnel to the 1%, but its a start.

Thank you for the explanation!

[tech3149]

7. Why does this story tell me that some people are starting to feel the pressure?

It might just be an "If you want to keep your job you've got to give them something" situation. For myself and most I know all three of those reasons are best possible choices.
It's not an issue of don't take what I paid for so much as can't we find a way to take care of someone when absolutely everything in their life has gone wrong.

[libdude]

13. Great start

Sounds like a great start to preserve/ protect and begin to really take Social Security into a true retirement system for every participant.
The CPI-e which would focus on those spending areas that seniors primarily use.
I worked for ten years in jobs covered by FICA, I worked in civil service for almost three decades, I worked a part time job for twenty years during my civil service career. When I turned 62 and began receiving Social Security, because of my civil service pension, my SS was cut by about 49%, and will remain cut at that level.
This is called WEP, windfall elimination provision, this will affect my spouse when she recieves my SS, which will be again cut in half, this is called GPO, government pension offest.
I only mention this for those that have not retired and might find themselves in the same situation.
I really scratch my head in thinking that a civil service pension is some kind of profit windfall.

[AzDar]

14. K & R

[Iliyah]

15. Filibuster time

thats all the GOP are good for. Anywho, trying to make up for the non gun control stuff? Anyways, I still don't trust him.

[freshwest]

16. Protecting and Preserving Social Security Act and the Social Security Fairness Act of 2013:

More about part 2 from the link:

The second part of that bill would revise how SS payments are adjusted to better reflect how America’s senior spend their income. Currently, payments are based on a Consumer Price Index model that does not accurately reflect higher costs seniors pay, for medications, for example. The bill would create a CPI – E for elders.

Increases Benefits for Seniors and Persons with Disabilities.

Currently, Social Security benefits are adjusted by the Consumer Price Index for workers. However, costs and spending patterns for seniors do not mirror those of the workforce. That is why Sen. Begich’s bill calls for adjusting cost-of-living increases with a Consumer Price Index specifically for the elderly which was created to more accurately measure the costs of goods and services seniors actually buy.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/03/1206754/-AK-Sen-Mark-Begich-D-Will-Introduce-The-Protecting-Preserving-Social-Security-Act-On-Monday

Not sure about first paragraph, but the second is exactly what people getting COLA have said for years. Spending habits are vastly different than those in the work force, and predicating the index on that measure was not geared for those on SS, etc.

This is much like what Begich suggested last year. I'll be calling my representatives about this, since it is a specific proposal and not media spin. All members of Congress need to be called, Senate and HoR, to let them know in line with the faulty 'austerity' tables, we expect better from them.

Thanks for posting, will be sharing.

[msongs]

17. item 3 is a fact. got it right from the mouth of the SS office director when he docked my SS nt

[Hekate]

20. See upthread -- same thing with my husband.

The only difference is that although he is 66 he does not want to retire yet, so he's back doing what he did before he started teaching: computer programming, and coincidentally rebuilding his SS account.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. He has to do something to redeem himself

from that horrible vote on the background checks.

[Wilms]

24. ^

[truebluegreen]

25. OK, that's a good thing...

d'ya think he has some fence mending to do?