Sanders introduces bill to boost Social Security

[fleur-de-lisa]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/319989-sanders-introduces-bill-to-boost-social-security

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is rolling out legislation to bolster Social Security payments and make high-income earners pay more into the retirement system.

"Anyone who tells you Social Security is going broke is lying,” Sanders said. “We can increase Social Security benefits for millions of Americans and extend the life of Social Security if we have the political will to tell the wealthiest Americans to pay the same rate as everyone else.”

The legislation would increase Social Security benefits by about $1,300 annually for seniors who make less than $16,000, while boosting the amount of taxes paid by high-income earners by subjecting income above $250,000 to payroll taxes.

Sanders argued that his proposal has an "overwhelming majority" of support in both parties pointing to a Oct. 2016 Public Policy Polling poll that found that 72 percent of Americans support increasing the entitlement program.

[ailsagirl]

1. I'd be happy if they don't demolish it

[guillaumeb]

2. Expand, not diminish.

And show an alternative to the GOP "slash and burn" plan.

[mopinko]

3. dont trash the cap. you think they want to kill it now? just wait

until high income people start paying in more than they are gonna get out. the cap isnt just a cap of taxes, it relates to the cap on benefits.

is the guy that pays in on his $750k going to get 3 times what the guy making $250 gets in benefits? if not, they will burn it down. if yes, it isnt gonna help the system.

go ahead and keep raising it every year like they do. but keep benefits capped, and tied to payments. otherwise, it is a welfare program that they will tear down eventually.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Raising it to $250k would keep the program solvent for quite a while...

Increasing the minimum wage would add a lot of revenue, too.

[mopinko]

8. yeah, that would do a lot more good for a lot more people.

they raise the cap every year in connection w changing the max benefit. i dont know what it is now, i just assumed that the $250k figure represented where it is now.

and once again, i dont see bernie picking up on care giver credits which is something that really sucks. i have to wait till i am 68 to get my ss, because it is spousal, he is younger than me, and i cant get mine till he turn 62. now that is only about not putting out money, being cheap.

[Wounded Bear]

11. No, I don't believe they raise the cap every year...

I think it has been static for at least 5-6 years, if not more. It's currently around $113k or so IIRC.

My COLA this year was $5/month.

[mopinko]

12. yeah, the tie to the bennies keeps it down.

i dont know what it is any more, but for decades it has gone up every year.

[BBG]

14. Raises almost every year

Been chasing it a long time now.
Press release last fall:
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that the maximum amount of wages in 2017 subject to the 6.2% Social Security tax (old age, survivor, and disability insurance) will rise from $118,500 to $127,200, an increase of more than 7%. By comparison, the 2016 wage base was unchanged from 2015.

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. No, he wants to tax people with incomes over $250K

So thete's an untaxed window between $118500 and $250K. That way it hits the top 1% rather than taking more from the upper middle class. By targeting the top 1%, it levels the playing field a bit more since that income class is more likely to have significant investment income, which isn't subject to SS tax.

[ymetca]

5. A voice crying in the wilderness...

I am amazed he keeps hanging in there, surrounded by all those duplicitous sell-outs.

The last prophet of false hope, perhaps.

No doubt we'll be memorializing him soon, with all the phony leeches declaring they'll "take up his mantle".

The mountain top still eludes... The Empire never ends.

[Talk Is Cheap]

9. Is it better to keep everything quiet...

Sorry, but your post is way way way way way way way-off-base....

[ymetca]

21. A little more explanation is needed, please

When I am that far off the mark I need to know why!

[BeckyDem]

6. It's the only way out of this storm. Thank you, Senator.

[VoicesAcrossAmerica]

7. This is how we win

72% of Americans support increasing social security. It's a winning message. The vast majority of Americans have nothing else to support them in old age.

[DK504]

16. I'd like to see how the Rethugs

spin this shit. They will try to tell the inbred jeds that taxing the 1% a bit more will completely destroy our country. The Jeds seem to forget that the 1% usually use our infrastructure more than they do. The 1% expect that all burden should be on the backs of those who have not been able to move up to that economical status.

We have a long disgusting history of making the poorest of us pay for the least of us. The very idea that these people think we deserve the crappy situation in our lives is our own fault is not only cruel, barbaric and vicious. Those that can afford to ensure our country's citizens are not becoming homeless or dying because they can not afford medication isn't criminal, however it is cold-blooded indifference. It shows the deepest part of their souls, an uninformed dark place with no idea the damage they do to their fellow humans.

The cooks, the cab drivers, construction workers, the cops, EMT's all of us just trying to make life a little better have been put on an equal footing with those who are more fortunate. Most Americans do support this action, but the Senate and House we have will never allow their friends and family to contribute their fair share survival of all.

The pit in my gut is telling me no matter how hard we try or how much we agree, this Congress will ensure they and their cohorts are never responsible for the basic tenets of humanity.

Sorry for the rant.....but we all know how this will play out.

[Talk Is Cheap]

10. Sanders is always fighting for *all* Americans...

[rurallib]

13. democrats need to back him up and take it very public

start campaigning on it NOW!

[Honeycombe8]

15. Wow. Sanders is like a train.

He just never stops, does he? Busy man, persistent (I mean that in a good way).

[retrowire]

17. Could have had this productive guy as President instead.

Hot damn.

[zentrum]

18. Go Bernie!

[CitizenZero]

19. Bernie

Thanks God for Bernie Sanders. We need more like him.

[MineralMan]

22. And what are the chances for such a piece of legislation?

They are precisely nil. It's nice of Senator Sanders to do this, of course, but it's also completely useless.

[Cal Carpenter]

23. Do you think this is true of any legislation Dems propose

right now? Or is it just this one?

[yeoman6987]

27. 2009 would have been nice. Guaranteed to have been passed.

[Cal Carpenter]

28. Not sure what that has to do with my question to Mineral Man

although, for the record Sanders has proposed similar bills many, many times before under various majorities and administrations, most recently 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. There are undoubtedly other years but I don't have time to do serious research at the moment.

You can see several of these here:

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/list.html

and a letter summarizing it and the bill itself from 2011 are here, starting on pg 13:

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/BSanders_20110907.pdf

[Cal Carpenter]

30. Also, I'm curious why you think it would've been guaranteed

There was much division within the Dem party at that time about Social Security with Obama insisting on a plan with bipartisan support, conflicting with congressional and Senate Dems who knew that the Repubs wouldn't agree to the changes they wanted (which were pretty much what Bernie has been proposing all these years). Details here: Democrats Resisting Obama on Social Security and there was tons of discussion about this on DU at the time.

[LanternWaste]

25. Many people believe that doing what one believes in

Many people believe that doing what one believes in, moving forward against the odds, fighting what the despondent thinks is a lost cause, affecting change, and sending a clear message to both allies and opposition is completely useless.

[Cal Carpenter]

29. I think the reaction is because "Sanders" is in the header.

If it said "DeFazio" instead (a co-sponsor) or Ron Wyden or Elizabeth Warren in the Senate, or Jan Schakowsky and Paul Tonko in the House, or organizations like Social Security Works, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and the Alliance for Retired Americans (all of whom are publicly supporting the bill) perhaps the reaction would be different.

It's amazing what a headline can do.

And it's sad that so many people let their frustrations from the primary motivate them to dismiss efforts to improve things.

[Blue_Warrior]

24. Sanders has TRUE progressive principals.

[still_one]

26. While I applaud Bernie for doing this, it isn't going to happen with those in control now

[Orsino]

32. This needs to be on the Democratic agenda.

This play needs loud backing. Even a little hike in the cap is good.

[azmom]

31. Bernie keeps fighting the good fight.

Go Bernie.