Here's How Republicans Handed Hillary Clinton a Big Fat Opportunity on Social Security

[freshwest]

Brian Cahn/ZUMA

By Pema Levy - Apr. 13, 2015

With Hillary Clinton now officially running for president, progressives* are upping the pressure on her to embrace their policy agenda, including the holy grail of expanding Social Security benefits. As I wrote** recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren did her part to force a discussion about expanding benefits onto the national agenda by engineering a Senate vote that won the support of nearly every one of her Democratic colleagues in late March...

As things stand now, in the final three months of 2016, the Social Security Disability Insurance trust fund will run out of money and beneficiaries will see an immediate 20 percent cut in benefits. Luckily, there's an easy fix: Congress can simply reallocate a small amount of payroll tax income from the larger Social Security retirement fund to the disability fund. In fact, this routine move has been done 11 times over the past several decades. And because the disability fund is so small compared to the general retirement fund, the fix would extend disability benefits until 2033 while hardly making a dent in the retirement fund. (The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a handy explainer on this.***)

But just as Republicans in recent years have turned once routine debt ceiling votes into near-catastrophic showdowns, the Republicans' new procedural rule blocks the House from voting on this simple fix unless they also address the long-term solvency of the program by cutting benefits or raising taxes. Progressives expect House GOPers to use the rule to force through benefits cuts in late 2016...

As advocates for expanding benefits will happily tell you, an overwhelming majority of voters support expansion.**** As retirement policy expert Mark Miller wrote back in January, "Mr. Obama and other Democratic leaders have been presented a great opportunity here to re-locate their spines on Social Security and reclaim the legacy of FDR..."

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/04/social-security-2016-campaign

*http://boldprogressives.org/2015/03/ready-for-boldness-iowa-nh-leaders-speak-out-on-2016/

**http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/can-elizabeth-warren-expand-social-security

***http://www.cbpp.org/blog/house-rule-could-hurt-vulnerable-disability-beneficiaries

****http://news.yahoo.com/house-rule-sets-election-battle-over-social-security-082626926--finance.html

Additionally:

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/giving-hillary-credit-for-schip/

This is where one of the 'lying' accusations come from.

[Iliyah]

1. Spines?

Oh well