Could people PLEASE stop pretending Obama might cut Social Security and Medicare?

[UrbScotty]

I mean, seriously, how did this rumor pop up?

[FrenchieCat]

1. Professional Left translating nefariously based on 3-4 words said on a Sunday.

While words negating such said on Monday and Tuesday selectively ignored.

[Gman]

2. Hey it's Obama and he's a Democrat and this is DU

what do you expect?

[Psephos]

3. Congress is the entity in charge of cuts, not the President.

The President's sole power over the budget is the veto.

[demwing]

5. So if Congress pesent the President with a bill

that inludes cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and he does not veto that bill, is he responsible for cutting Medicare and Medicaid or not?

[Psephos]

10. Depends on whether you believe in Burke's observation...

...that "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

[demwing]

26. No, it really doesn't

You say that the President doesn't pass laws, Congress does. But you know there are multiple steps - pass the House, pass the Senate, pass the President.

The President can sign the bill, veto the bill, pocket veto the bill, or allow it to pass unsigned. Each step requires some sort of action (or planned inaction). Believe Edmund Burke or not, this is a straightforward issue.

If Obama were presented with such a bill as discussed up-thread, does not apply his veto, or just lets the bill pass without signature - he has assumed responsibility for the bill's passage.

[Psephos]

49. You don't seem to realize that we agree. n/t

[demwing]

59. You're right, sorry for the mild rant :)

I'm glad I didn't go off on a wild rant and say something extremely impolite.

Not that you wrote anything that warranted such a response, but I'm about to get kicked out of my home, and am emotionally damaged right now...

[ClassWarrior]

9. Yes, yes, the Prez is weak and powerless.

:eyes:

NGU.

[Psephos]

11. I bow before your command of the rhetorical arts. n/t

[Shiver]

14. By the Constitution, the Executive Branch is the weakest.

It was the Founding Father's intent.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[woo me with science]

20. OMG what if they send him a bill making slavery legal again??????

I didn't realize he would have to sign it. :scared:

[Shiver]

44. No, that's what the veto is for.

He doesn't HAVE to sign anything. He could spend the whole term vetoing every piece of legislation that comes across his desk. But the Executive Branch is the weakest because it cannot pass legislation. That's a power vested to Congress. The president only signs it into law if it passes both chambers of Congress, but he cannot create laws.

[woo me with science]

54. Oh dear.

I think we may need another icon.

That post really was not meant to be taken literally, grasshopper. :hug:

[Shiver]

55. Ah...

I took it as sarcasm, but sarcasm mocking what I said. :blush:

[gateley]

4. Congressional Dems think it's enough of a possibility that they sent him

a letter regarding Social Security. If they had confidence it wouldn't be touched, they wouldn't have felt the need to write the letter.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/in-letter-house-dems-warn-obama-to-leave-social-security-alone.php?ref=fpblg

[vaberella]

23. Congressional Dems also sent him a letter to extend tax cuts for the rich!

Give me a damned break.

[gateley]

47. The point of my post, which you seemed to have missed, is that they feel concerned

enough to address this with a Democratic President. Regardless of the outcome, you shouldn't have a knot in your stomach wondering what your leader will be giving away this time.

[frazzled]

29. This is the way they get you to send them money

If you haven't gotten hip to that, you are seriously naive.

[gateley]

48. Thank you. I'm seriously naive, so you needn't waste any more time trying

to educate me. I'm hopeless. I believe in a few of our Representatives.

[ClassWarrior]

6. Bookmarking.

NGU.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Shiver]

8. Just read the President's budget.

No cuts to either. Both are having their funding increased. Only cuts are directed toward reducing waste, fraud, abuse and error.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Shiver]

13. I'm not unquestioning.

I just don't believe in jumping the gun or knee-jerk reactions. I make my opinions based off of facts, not speculation.

[ClassWarrior]

18. Wow, I expected a lot more people to defend this. Where are they? Do they know something...

...the rest of us don't?

NGU.

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

40. will you apologize when Obama makes you look like a fool tonight??

I doubt it.

[cali]

16. I don't think he'll cut SS or Medicare BUT he's already agreed to

cut almost all of the funds for CHCs which are desperately needed and 500 million from WIC.

[Shiver]

17. Actually, the $500 million from WIC is unspent funds from last year.

Nothing is being cut from actual WIC recipients.

The CHCs have a budget, under the Affordable Care Act, of $11 billion. The $600 million cut represents 5.45% of the total budget for CHCs.

According to the Senate Appropriations committee, the compromise keeps all 1,100 centers open and allows no cuts in services. According to ThinkProgress back in February, the Affordable Care Act (implementation of which was NOT defunded as HR1 planned) contained $11 billion in funding for such health centers, meaning the $600 million reported by ThinkP represents a 5.45% budget cut. That’s a significant walkback from what President Obama wanted, which was an increase in funding. But of course, Obama’s budget was never enacted, and was simply his opening bid in the budget negotiations (therefore it had lots of requests for budget increases.)

An interesting read that clarifies a lot of misconceptions about the budget compromise --> http://blog.reidreport.com/2011/04/facts-on-budget-compromise/

[walldude]

33. So WIC had a surplus last year?

And every family that qualified for WIC got the benefits? And the cuts aren't going to affect anyone?

And you are buying that shit?

Yeah same thing I was told about LIHEAP. Turns out that was a lie. I think I'll wait and see the actual numbers before I believe that no one is going to be hurt by cuts to WIC.

[Shiver]

43. Yes, yes, and yes.

I've been looking at the numbers. WIC had a surplus, due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocated additional funds to the program to help during the economic downturn. The demand wasn't as high as expected, and last year food costs didn't increase as much as expected - milk for instance. which makes up 20% of WIC expenditures, apparently declined in price. That was for last years budget. In the President's budget proposal for the new fiscal year, he's asking for additional WIC funds. I don't have the PDF of the proposed budget on this computer, otherwise I'd give you the actual requested numbers.

[walldude]

58. I'll look into it myself because I was told the same thing about

LIHEAP and that turned out to be a crock.


Just once I would love to be able to trust a politician.

[indimuse]

21. He has been expanding the military while cutting

poor peoples benefits! What does this sound like to you? A wake up call to me.. ;)

[Roci]

19. The uncertanty that

exists is a culmination of Obama's weak-kneed "negotiating" style, paired with his utterly deplorable lack (thus far) of any sort of plain-spoken declarative statement of policy on this and sp many other issues. The bottom line is that people are worried because Obama isn't leading from the front, yet again.

[vaberella]

22. The left likes this shit. Like the right said Obama would kill grandmothers.

They're all the same with a Black president---Stupid.

[ReggieVeggie]

25. you've got it all figured out, dontcha!

:eyes:

[lamp_shade]

24. The "pretend outrage" runs rampant.

[ClassWarrior]

31. Why are some people so tragically desperate to minimize their fellow DUers concerns?

Makes one wonder what they're trying to accomplish.

NGU.

[lamp_shade]

36. Ain't it the truth?

[JoePhilly]

38. Didn't Obama announce major cuts to SS during the SOTU??

Oh wait, no.

But for the 2 weeks prior to the SOTU, DU was on fire with "unnamed sources" who "confirmed" that he'd do exactly that.

When it didn't happen, the outrage simply dropped it and moved on to a new topic ...

.... I think it was "Obama secretly working behind the scenes to keep Mubarak in power". When Mubarak fell, the outrage moved on again.

For much of Obama's second year it was "Obama will never repeal DADT" ... of course that's now been dropped too.

[treestar]

42. Because they are outlandish?

[Ikonoklast]

52. What's so bad about that?

I happen to like cheese outlandish, with a nice hot cuppa black coffee.

[Overseas]

27. Golly gee, yeah I mean who cares what the Cost Cutting Commission said.

Why should we worry when we've only seen our Democratic legislators accept billions in cuts to vital infrastructure and social safety net programs so far?

Why should we worry when our legislative leaders STARTED healthcare negotiations by dropping not only Medicare for All but even the public option right at the start?

[Autumn]

28. More a concern from when he said everything

has to be on the table, tough choices, blah, blah, blah. His negotiating style, his unhealthy quest for bipartisanship. I mean, seriously there is reason for concern

[LWolf]

30. Not pretending. nt

[wishlist]

32. Reports indicate he will cut Federal pensions and health insurance though

Apparently he will go along with the Simpson Bowles ideas of making Feds pay more into their pensions and get less back and also pay in more and get less back from their health insurance. Even though the Civil Service pension funds are not facing any problems. Pay freezes and downsizing of Federal work force seems in his plan also. Most of the Feds I know work extremely hard in difficult jobs where they earn no more than a teacher's salary for 12 months work and pay a substantial amount towards their health insurance and pensions already. But being a relatively small group looked upon unfavorably by the general public, Feds make an easy target for both parties

[ProSense]

35. What reports? n/t

[ChiciB1]

34. About HOW The Rumor Got Started Was On Joey Scar This AM...

Not sure exactly which one stated it, but I think it was the now "professor" whose name escapes me right now, but I believe he ran against Corker a while back. A VERY conservative black man, geez, I KNOW his name... but I do think it was him. He said he supported the Simpson/Boles initiative and felt that Obama would very likely go along with what they have proposed.

Honestly, I can SEE this guy's face and he's on the show a lot, can't believe his name isn't popping up! It will as soon as I post this! Oh well, I'm sure others will let me know. Still, I DO think it was him who stated this today and the others seemed to agree.

[yodermon]

37. so we can all breathe a sigh of relief when he does something less egregious

but still bad.

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

41. there you go again. when one prediction is proven wrong, you make another one.

with just as much likelihood of success.

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

39. they want him to so they can justify their hate for him, but he won't.

[polichick]

45. LOL

[FrenchieCat]

51. What's funny?

How wrong you were,
or the fact that you probably won't admit it,
and move the goalpost instead?

[Cameron27]

46. Probably when he appointed

Alan Simpson to his fiscal commission and Simpson pipes in with things like this:

You're going to see movement.” Simpson continued, “I don't think he would invite us there… if he were going to just put us up there as cardboard figures and say, thanks for your work and didn't take any of it on.

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/11/simpson-obama-will-have-deficit-details-weds/

And the WH spokeperson says things like this:

"The work of the Gang of Six is modeled on recommendations of the fiscal commission Obama appointed last year. On Monday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the commission had “created a framework that may help us reach a deal and a compromise.”

“The fiscal commission showed that you need to look at entitlements, you need to look at tax expenditures, you need to look at military spending, you need to look at all of these issues,” Carney said. “You can’t — you can’t simply slash entitlements, lower taxes and call that a fair deal.”

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/report-obamas-speech-will-sound-liber

We'll find out soon enough, I guess.

[FrenchieCat]

50. Are you ready to take action to make it happen,

or will you be sitting on the sideline providing us with your analysis?

We'll find out quicker if we are actually a part of the solutions he proposed
by vocally support him as much as some have been vocal in finding anything
and everything wrong with all that this President has achieved.

[Cameron27]

57. The OP asked a question

and I answered, not sure why you consider that an "analysis." Pretty speeches don't move me anymore, not after health care. I'll wait to see what action he takes before I vocally support him on the budget.

I guess I don't see things the way you do. I don't believe that there's a single person on the liberal left who enjoys criticizing a Democratic president, I really don't. Liberals aren't stupid, and we're not in the habit of cutting off our noses to spite our face, so where you see the left criticizing Obama the man, I see liberals criticizing his policies. I think that's healthy. I think that's what separates us from the right-wingers.

[EndElectoral]

53. I beleive he spoke of reducing healthcare costs in the budget as his third way of cutting deficit.

"We will reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments. We will cut spending on prescription drugs by using Medicare’s purchasing power to drive greater efficiency and speed generic brands of medicine onto the market. We will work with governors of both parties to demand more efficiency and accountability from Medicaid. We will change the way we pay for health care – not by procedure or the number of days spent in a hospital, but with new incentives for doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries and improve results. And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need."

Points-
1. "wasteful subsidies" - such as.... and how much recouped?
2. "cut spending on prescription drugs" - you'll have to pass a ban on volume negoitating in the House, and maybe a fillibuster in the Senate.
3. "governors of both parties" - there are more Rethug governors who essentially want to gut Medicaid.
4. "New incentives for doctors and hospitals." - such as...what does this exactly mean?
5. "Strengthening an independent commission of doctors, murses, medical experts...recommend the best ways to reduce spending" - duch as...And is this the triage panel to deny claims...and if so what type of claims...

I think we need more specificity, but Obama has pledged to reduce health care costs, and the budget, and so essetially he is looking for redutions in Medicare. It is not as easy as trying to go after such things as "erroneous payments", and to gain the Republican votes it will entail cuts.

BUT UNFORTUNATELY, HE ALSO ADDED THE OBAMA CAPTITULATION CLAUSE -

"I don’t expect the details in any final agreement to look exactly like the approach I laid out today. I’m eager to hear other ideas from all ends of the political spectrum. And though I’m sure the criticism of what I’ve said here today will be fierce in some quarters, and my critique of the House Republican approach has been strong, Americans deserve and will demand that we all bridge our differences, and find common ground."

This approach has not worked with Republicans since he's been President, and won't work now.

[MercuryRepeater]

56. once again, Obama made his critics look like buffoons.

[rasputin1952]

60. Welcome to DU MercuryRepeater!...

:hi: