Elizabeth Warren: Don’t cut Social Security. Expand it! "Chained CPI? (video)
Last edited Mon Nov 18, 2013, 08:20 PM - Edit history (4)
Greg Sargent
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/11/18/elizabeth-warren-dont-cut-social-security-expand-it/
If Elizabeth Warren is emerging as a kind of spokeswoman for the new economic populism that many Democratic activists want the party to embrace heading into 2014 and 2016, this speech that Warren is currently delivering on the floor of the Senate suggests the push to expand Social Security could become a key issue in the argument over the Democratic Party of the future.
In remarks Warren just began delivering, she strongly endorsed the push to boost Social Security benefits — in keeping with Senator Tom Harkin’s proposal to do the same — and condemned the “Chained CPI” that liberals fear Dems will embrace in strong terms. From the prepared remarks:
“The most recent discussion about cutting benefits has focused on something called the Chained-CPI. Supporters of the chained CPI say that it’s a more accurate way of measuring cost of living increases for seniors. That statement is simply not true. Chained CPI falls short of the actual increases in costs that seniors face, pure and simple. Chained CPI? It’s just a fancy way of saying cut benefits.
“The Bureau of Labor Statistics has developed a measure of the impact of inflation on seniors. It’s called the CPI-E, and, if we adopted it today, it would generally increase benefits for our retirees — not cut them.
more at link
Greg Sargent
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS
Elizabeth Warren has just ensured proposal to expand SS will be key to debate over Dem Party of future:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/elizabeth-warren-social-security_n_4298336.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
(snip)
"Chained CPI falls short of the actual increases in costs that seniors face, pure and simple," Warren said. "Chained CPI? It’s just a fancy way of saying cut benefits."
Senator Elizabeth Warren: Floor Speech on the Retirement Crisis
Warren slams WaPo Social Security editorial
(snip)
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/warren-slams-wapo-social-security-editorial-100010.html
Warren, a leading voice among progressives, zeroed in on a Washington Post editorial published Sunday night that criticized progressives pushing a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that would boost Social Security benefits by increasing taxes on the wealthy.
The editorial argued that supporters of the bill need to face the realities of a tight budget.
“The fiscal predicament facing the U.S. government is a double one: how to bring taxes and spending into rough long-term balance while ending the squeeze on non-entitlement spending enshrined in current law,” according to the editorial. “It’s not an easy task. It won’t get any easier if progressives define progressivism as opposition to budgetary realism.”
Warren criticized the Post for “mocking the idea” that there is a retirement crisis.
“No retirement crisis?,” she said. “Tell that to the millions of Americans who are facing retirement without a pension. Tell that to the millions of Americans who have nothing to fall back on except Social Security.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/warren-slams-wapo-social-security-editorial-100010.html#ixzz2l2vDIAfY
= new reply since forum marked as read
should you run out. 
