Social Security and Medicare Are Not Safe With Joe Biden, Joe Biden's History of Austerity

[StrictlyRockers]

Joe Biden's history of austerity
https://theweek.com/articles/888689/joe-bidens-history-austerity

Is Joe Biden, contrary to his centrist reputation, a tax-and-spend liberal? That was the argument made by Politifact's Amy Sherman, defending him against accusations from the Bernie Sanders camp that in 2018, "Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare." Not so, says Politifact: "The Sanders campaign plucked out part of what Biden said but omitted the full context of his comments. We rate this statement False."

Unfortunately, it's a tendentious argument that totally misreads Biden's politics and history. He did indeed call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare in a 2018 speech at the Brookings Institution — part of a decades-long career of hawking pointless austerity. Yet, just like they did with Medicare-for-all, fact checkers are bending the truth to advance an ideological centrist agenda.
...

Biden has been proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare for decades on exactly these grounds. In 1984 he proposed freezing Social Security benefits — that is, ending cost-of-living adjustments that boost benefits to keep up with inflation. In January 1995 he gave a speech endorsing a balanced budget amendment (an utterly lunatic policy) and boasted about his previous record of proposing "that we freeze every single solitary program in the government, anything the government had to do with, every single solitary one, that we not spend a penny more, not even accounting for inflation, than we spent the year before." In November 1995 he did so again, boasting that "I tried with Senator Grassley back in the '80s to freeze all government spending, including Social Security, including everything."
<...>

Bernie Sanders Is Right About Biden's Record on Social Security
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/bernie-sanders-is-right-about-biden-and-social-security/

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week, Bernie Sanders attacked fellow candidate former Vice President Joe Biden for his record on Social Security, claiming Biden’s support for cutting the popular program makes him less electable. The Sanders campaign followed up the next day in an email newsletter to supporters that said, “In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.”

Biden’s campaign pushed back against the newsletter’s attacks, contending the comments were taken out of context. According to The Intercept’s Ryan Grim, however, Biden’s record on Social Security is far worse than one potentially misinterpreted remark. Indeed, as Grim lays out, Biden has been advocating for cuts to Social Security for roughly 40 years. In 1984, in the midst of President Reagan’s frenzy to cut the federal safety net, Biden worked with Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley calling “for a freeze on federal spending and insisted on including Social Security in that freeze,” which even the Reagan administration was against.

That plan was rejected, but Biden continued to make similar pushes for cuts over the years. This included in 1994, after Republicans won both chambers of Congress, when Biden joined his GOP colleagues in calling for freezing federal spending. Per Grim:

His general advocacy for budget austerity made him a leading combatant in the centrist-wing battle against the party’s retreating liberals in the 1980s and ’90s.

‘When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security as well,’ [Biden] told the Senate in 1995. ‘I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits. I meant every single solitary thing in the government. And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.’ (A freeze would have reduced the amount that would be paid out, cutting the program’s benefit.)

This approach was common for Democrats in the Clinton era, Grim notes, part of “the belief that old tax-and-spend liberals were out, and that a type of “New Democrat” was needed, one who understood the necessity of fiscal restraint.”

Joe Biden on Social Security
https://www.ontheissues.org/2020/Joe_Biden_Social_Security.htm

Freeze entitlements; don't favor special interests

Biden toured the country in 1985 chiding groups like unions and farmers for being too narrowly focused and complained that Democrats too often "think in terms of special interests first and the greater interest second." In the latter case, Biden was specifically complaining about their opposition to his calls for a spending freeze on entitlements and an increase in the retirement age.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls , Aug 7, 2018

Where would elderly be now if funds were in stock market?

RYAN: Social Security is going bankrupt. If we don't shore up Social Security, when we run out of the IOUs, a 25% across-the-board benefit cut kicks in on current seniors in the middle of their retirement. We're going to stop that from happening.
BIDEN: We will not privatize it. If we had listened to Romney and the congressman during the Bush years, imagine where all those seniors would be now if their money had been in the market. Their ideas are old, and their ideas are bad.
Source: 2012 Vice Presidential debate , Oct 11, 2012

Raise the $97,500 cap, but don’t raise retirement age
Q: Would you raise the cap for Social Security tax above the current level of the first $97,500 worth of income?
A: The answer is yes. The truth is, you’re either going to cut benefits or you’re going to go ahead and raise taxes above the first $97,000

Q: Would you also, considering now life expectancy is 78, consider gradually raising the retirement age?

A: Well, we did that once, I supported that. That’s what got it solvent to 2041. By simply raising the cap, you can solve the problem.
Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate at Dartmouth College , Sep 6, 2007


Social Security and Medicare Are Not Safe With Joe Biden

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/01/social-security-medicare-joe-biden-record-sanders
Biden says to the Senate, “I tried with Senator Grassley back in the eighties to freeze all government spending, including Social Security, including everything.”

Biden was telling the truth about his own record. In 1984, he teamed up with two Republican Senators to put a freeze on Social Security spending, which specifically would have eliminated scheduled cost-of-living increase for seniors enrolled in the program. That is by definition a cut to the program. “While this program is severe, it is the only proposal that will halt the upward spiral of deficits,” he said at the time.

In the eighties Joe Biden also called to raise the retirement age, a proposed cut to Social Security and Medicare alike. And if you thought that was just youthful folly, think again. In 1995, Biden voted again for a balanced-budget amendment that took special aim at Social Security, citing concerns about “continued spending” for his decision.

Nor did those attitudes stay behind in the twentieth century. When Biden ran for office in 2007–8, he again proposed raising the retirement age. When asked whether he would consider cuts to Social Security and Medicare he responded, “The answer is absolutely … you’ve got to put all of it on the table.”

WATCH: Joe Biden Once Boasted About Wanting to Cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans’ Benefits

Joe Biden is the only 2020 Democrat to have supported the Balanced Budget Amendment. In a floor speech from January 1995, a younger Biden chided liberals in his own party over their reluctance to cut federal spending on programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits. Watch that video here:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/05/watch-joe-biden-boasts-about-wanting-to-cut-social.html

Biden Says He’s the Workers’ Candidate, But He Has Worked To Cut Medicare and Social Security
The universal retirement programs are Biden’s go-to sacrificial lambs.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is positioning himself as the defender of the embattled working class: giving speeches to union audiences, tapping organized labor for early support, walking the Stop & Shop picket lines, and pairing his announcement with a reportedly impending endorsement from the International Association of Firefighters, who have pledged to help him raise money.

However, an episode from the not-so-distant past cuts against this “friend of the working man” image: Biden's leading role in the Obama administration's 2011 efforts to slash the deficit by offering Republicans spending cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/21856/joe-biden-cut-medicare-social-security-retirement-age

FACT CHECK: JOE BIDEN HAS ADVOCATED CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY FOR 40 YEARS

AS EARLY AS 1984 and as recently as 2018, former Vice President Joe Biden called for cuts to Social Security in the name of saving the program and balancing the federal budget. Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted Biden’s record on Social Security in prosecuting the case that Biden isn’t the most electable candidate. The issue could be raised again in Tuesday night’s debate.

After a Sanders campaign newsletter continued the attack on Biden’s Social Security record, the Biden campaign complained to fact-checkers at Politifact that his comments were being taken out of context. Placed in context, however, Biden’s record on Social Security is far worse than one offhand remark. Indeed, Biden has been advocating for cuts to Social Security for roughly 40 years.

And after a Republican wave swept Congress in 1994, Biden’s support for cutting Social Security, and his general advocacy for budget austerity, made him a leading combatant in the centrist-wing battle against the party’s retreating liberals in the 1980s and ’90s.

“When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security as well,” he told the Senate in 1995. “I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits. I meant every single solitary thing in the government. And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.” (A freeze would have reduced the amount that would be paid out, cutting the program’s benefit.)
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/13/biden-cuts-social-security/

[George II]

1. This is patently FALSE, Biden has never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare....

...even the sources you cite.

[StrictlyRockers]

4. Yes, he did.

Do some research.

[Demsrule86]

9. Oh please, no one will buy that...

"PolitiFact never said the videos in question were doctored, though the website did mark as false a line in a Sanders campaign newsletter that read, "In 2018, Biden lauded Paul Ryan for proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare."

You Ryan info has been shown to be false...you should remove it.

Biden opposes the privatization of Social Security and was given an 89% approval rating from the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), reflecting a pro-senior citizen voting record. He voted in support of welfare block grants and supports welfare reform.[104][which?]

As for the rest...Democrats had to survive during Reagan years...and Biden never voted to cut social security. Think about that.

[George II]

10. No he didn't, do some research. This has been proven false, even on this site, many times.

[Demsrule86]

13. There are several posts here showing you are wrong...ah well desperate times I guess

for the Sanders campaign...I expect some polls not favorable to Sanders are on the way.

[onetexan]

6. +1 K&R

[HerbChestnut]

19. He has advocated, and voted for, freezing the budget multiple times.

That would negate annual cost of living increases for Social Security. That is cutting Social Security. In addition, he has voted to increase the retirement age, which passed. He has said in previous interviews while running for president in 2007 that cuts to Social Security and Medicare were "on the table". Here's an excerpt from a Meet the Press interview in April 2007.

MR. RUSSERT: But, senator, we have a deficit. We have Social Security and Medicare looming. The number of people on Social Security and Medicare is now 40 million people. It’s going to be 80 million in 15 years. Would you consider looking at those programs, age of eligibility...

SEN. BIDEN: Absolutely.

MR. RUSSERT: ...cost of living, put it all on the table.

SEN. BIDEN: The answer is absolutely. You have to. You know, it’s—one of the things that my, you know, the political advisers say to me is, “Whoa, don’t touch that third”—look, the American people aren’t stupid. It’s a real simple proposition. We have to do—you and I were talking about Bob Dole earlier. I was one of five people—I was the junior guy in the meeting with Bob Dole and George Mitchell when we put Social Security on the right path for 60 years. I’ll never forget what Bob Dole said. After we reached an agreement about gradually raising the retirement age, etc., he said, “Look, here’s the deal, we all put our foot in the boat one at a time.” And he kicked—he stepped like he was stepping into a boat. “And we all make the following deal. If any one of the challengers running against the incumbent Democrat or Republicans attack us on this point, we’ll all stay together.” That’s the kind of leadership that is needed. Social Security’s not the hard one to solve. Medicare, that is the gorilla in the room, and you’ve got to put all of it on the table.

MR. RUSSERT: Everything.

SEN. BIDEN: Everything. You’ve got to.

I created a thread about this with a link to the full interview.

The ARA gives Biden an 89% grade on Social Security, which isn't bad. Sanders and Warren both have 100% grades though. So if Social Security is a big issue for you, who would you trust of those three?

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin'

[TidalWave46]

5. The big lies are coming out as we close in on voting.

Jacobin?

[George II]

7. Some highly questionable sources being cited.

[Demsrule86]

14. And it is not the entire story either...carefully excerpted.

[ehrnst]

11. From Politifact:

Did Biden laud a Paul Ryan proposal to cut Social Security as Bernie Sanders’ campaign said?




https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2020/jan/09/bernie-sanders/did-biden-laud-paul-ryan-proposal-cut-social-secur/

[Demsrule86]

12. Biden has the same rating as Ted Kennedy...so if he came back to save us from Trump,I guess he

wouldn't be good enough...89%. And some of your information are a pack of lies that have been shown to be lies several times.

[HerbChestnut]

21. Sanders and Warren have 100% ratings.

The reason Biden has 89% instead of 100% is because he has voted to increase the retirement age, freeze the federal budget multiple times (which would stop cost of living increases for Social Security), and has said in interviews while running for President in 2007 (quoted in a comment higher up this thread) that cuts to Social Security and Medicare were "on the table".

[The Valley Below]

15. Fake.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread StrictlyRockers.

[amishcountry]

17. it is hilarious watching the corporate media

outright lying when you can easily youtube everything Biden said about social security throughout his career. I'm sure come Monday he will get slammed by the real media with backing video proof, Bammmm.

And Bernie's got the cash to put this on every TV set in the country.

[highplainsdem]

18. BS.

[Zolorp]

20. And it comes straight from B. S.

[NYMinute]

22. Intercept, Jacobin, The Week, Truthdig -- a socialist wet dream #fake news #lies #distortions

[amishcountry]

23. There is years and years of C-span footage

out there that will surface. Biden can claim it's all doctored, but who do you think the voters will believe when they see it, Biden or their lying eyes?