Bernie Moves To Strengthen Social Security-- Will Reactionary Republicans Vote Against Him?

When Bernie says "some people in Congress," he's talking about Paul Ryan and his reactionary cronies

No Republican co-sponsors for Bernie's bill? Don't reach for the smelling salts... the bill is meant to help working families, not Wall Street campaign contributors. Actually, the biggest surprise for me is that Bernie managed to get not just the outstanding progressives in the Senate to co-sponsor-- Dan Akaka (D-HI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Al Franken (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), but even the usually confused and conflicted Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

Bernie Sanders is, at least so far, the only Senate incumbent up for reelection next year, who Blue America has endorsed. It's not a coincidence. He's been an unflagging and stalwart fighter for working families, more deserving of our support than anyone else in that godforsaken body. The only two challengers on our list are also two proven and effective fighters-- Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), both of whom, I would imagine, would also be co-sponsoring Bernie's bill if they were in the Senate now.

The gist of Bernie's legislation is to strengthen Social Security by applying the payroll tax that most Americans already pay to those with annual incomes above $250,000. Right now the payroll tax cuts off at $106,800. This simple, painless change by itself would keep Social Security solvent for another 75 years, about as long as Social Security has already existed. and although right-wing crackpots and extremists like Rick Perry may call it a Ponzi Scheme and predatory Wall Street shills like Mitt Romney may want to privatize it and turn it over to Wall Street, the vast majority of Americans see it as the most successful government program in our nation's history and understand, despite Republican lies-- that started 76 years ago-- that it hasn't contributed one dime to the federal deficit. It has a $2.5 trillion surplus, and it can pay out every nickel owed to every eligible American for at least the next 25 years, according to the Social Security Administration. Before Social Security came into being something like half the senior citizens in the country lived in poverty. Now they have a much better chance of ending their lives in dignity and without eating cat food. In fact, less than 10% of the elderly live in poverty and more than 53 million Americans receive retirement or disability benefits.

“Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. For 76 years, through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American,” Sander said. “The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the next 75 years is to eliminate the cap on the payroll tax on income above $250,000. Right now, someone who earns $106,800 pays the same amount of money into Social Security as a billionaire. That makes no sense. The Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act will ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security without cutting benefits or raising taxes on the middle class.”

What Bernie is worried about, of course, is that the Super Committee will make a move against Social Security. He isn't alone. Yesterday Greg Sargent reported that Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is also worried-- worried that their deficit-cutting obsession could actually do further harm to the economy.

Senator Merkley has an idea on what to do about this. He is calling on both parties to agree to submit every proposal offered by the supercommittee to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, to be evaluated for the impact it will have-- on jobs.

He doesn’t want the CBO to evaluate the proposals just for their budgetary impact. Rather, he wants the CBO to reach a conclusion on the impact the proposals will have on unemployment, whether positive, negative, or neutral.

“We need to have every proposal that the super-committee brings out to have it scored by its jobs impact,” Merkley told me in an interview this morning. He plans to urge Democratic and GOP leaders to agree to this standard, and hopes to build a campaign to make it happen.

...Merkley hopes this move would encourage the supercommittee-- and the rest of us-- to view the supercommittee’s work through the lens of job creation. At best it could create an incentive for the “supercommittee” to incorporate a meaningful push for jobs creation into its mission. But, barring that, this could also alert us when its proposals risk causing further job loss, which in theory would dissuade committee members from adopting such proposals or at least keep the public in the loop on what’s happening.

But, to put this in some kind of political context, remember that this week 38 Republican senators voted to filibuster aid for Hurricane Irene victims. Yes, they very much want America to fail, knowing full well that the corporate media will help them blame it on Obama. Ever hear the media refer to "obstructionist Republicans" these days?