Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today responding to reports that President Obama will include chained CPI in his annual budget.
“Republicans have been trying to dismantle Social Security ever since President Roosevelt proposed it during the Great Depression. We should not try to bargain for their good will with policies that hurt our seniors, especially since they’ve been unwilling to reduce tax loopholes for millionaires and wealthy corporations by so much as a dime.
“One hundred seven Members of the House of Representatives, a majority of the Democratic Caucus, have already stated our vigorous opposition to cutting Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. Americans all over the country depend on every single dollar they get from Social Security to put food on the table and pay for housing. Using chained CPI will shift more costs onto already struggling American families, seniors, veterans – including our 3.2 million disabled veterans who also depend on the Social Security calculation for their Veterans Affairs benefits – individuals with disabilities, and children on survivors’ benefits.
“This week, a new study from the New America Foundation finds that proposals to cut Social Security benefits could be disastrous for our economy because the recession has led more seniors to rely to Social Security for income. Cutting benefits now, when people are already struggling to make ends meet, will mean unnecessary hardship for millions of people. It is unpopular, unwise and unworkable.”
The text of the Feb. 15 Schakowsky-Conyers- Grijalva-Ellison-Edwards letter opposing chained CPI is below.
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February 15, 2013
Dear President Obama:
We want to thank you for standing strong in the American Taxpayer Relief Act to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid from benefit cuts that would jeopardize the well-being of millions of Americans.
We write to affirm our vigorous opposition to cutting Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits in any final bill to replace sequestration. Earned Social Security and Medicare benefits provide the financial and health protections necessary to keep individuals and families out of poverty. Medicaid is not only a lifeline for low-income children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and families, it is the primary source of long-term care services and supports for 3.6 million individuals. We cannot overstate their importance for our constituents and our country.
That is why we remain deeply opposed to proposals to reduce Social Security benefits through use of the chained CPI to calculate cost-of-living adjustments. We remain committed to making the changes that will extend solvency for 75 years, but Social Security has not contributed to our current fiscal problems and it should not be on the bargaining table.
Similarly, we oppose proposals to increase Medicare cost-sharing requirements or to raise the age of eligibility. Half of all Medicare recipients live on less than $22,000 a year – yet they spend, on average, three times as much of those limited incomes on health care as other Americans. Raising their already heavy cost-sharing burden or increasing the age of eligibility doesn’t lower health care costs, it just shifts them to those who can least afford more financial burdens – seniors, people with disabilities and their families.
A commitment to keeping the middle-class strong and reducing poverty requires a commitment to keeping Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid strong. We urge you to reject any proposals to cut benefits, and we look forward to working with you to enact approaches that instead rely on economic growth and more fair revenue-raising policies to solve our fiscal problems.
Sincerely,
Schakowsky, Jan
Ellison, Keith
Grijalva, Raúl M.
Conyers, John
Edwards, Donna
Barber, Ron
Bass, Karen
Bera, Ami
Bonamici, Suzanne
Brady, Robert
Braley, Bruce L.
Brown, Corrine
Brownley, Julia
Bustos, Cheri
Butterfield, G.K.
Capps, Lois
Cardenas, Tony
Cartwright, Matthew
Castor, Kathy
Christensen, Donna M.,
Chu, Judy
Cicilline, David
Clarke, Yvette D.
Clay Jr., William "Lacy"
Cleaver, Emanuel
Cohen, Steve
Conyers Jr., John
Courtney, Joe
Cummings, Elijah
Davis, Danny K.
DeFazio, Peter
DeLauro, Rosa L.
Deutch, Ted
Duckworth, Tammy
Edwards, Donna F.
Ellison, Keith
Eshoo, Anna G.
Faleomavaega, Eni F. H.
Farr, Sam
Fattah, Chaka
Frankel, Lois
Fudge, Marcia L.
Garamendi, John
Grayson, Alan
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva, Raul
Gutierrez, Luis
Hahn, Janice
Hastings, Alcee L.
Hinojosa, Rubén
Holt, Rush
Honda, Mike
Huffman, Jared
Jackson Lee, Sheila
Jeffries, Hakeem
Johnson, Eddie Bernice
Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" Jr.
Kaptur, Marcy
Kildee, Daniel
Kirkpatrick, Ann
Langevin, Jim
Lee, Barbara
Lewis, John
Loebsack, David
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowenthal, Alan
Lujan Grisham, Michelle
Lynch, Stephen F.
Maloney, Carolyn
Markey, Ed
Matsui, Doris O.
McDermott, Jim
McGovern, James
Meng, Grace
Michaud, Michael
Moore, Gwen
Nadler, Jerrold
Negrete McLeod, Gloria
Nolan, Rick
Norton, Eleanor Holmes
Pastor, Ed
Payne Jr., Donald
Pingree, Chellie
Pocan, Mark
Rangel, Charles B.
Roybal-Allard, Lucille
Rush, Bobby L.
Ryan, Tim
Sablan, Gregorio
Sanchez, Linda
Scott, Robert C.
Serrano, José E.
Shea-Porter, Carol
Sinema, Kyrsten
Sires, Albio
Slaughter, Louise
Speier, Jackie
Takano, Mark
Thompson, Bennie G.
Tierney, John
Titus, Dina
Tonko, Paul D.
Vargas, Juan
Veasey, Marc
Velázquez, Nydia M.
Waters, Maxine
Watt, Mel
Waxman, Henry
Welch, Peter
Wilson, Frederica
cc: Speaker John Boehner
House Minority Leader Pelosi
Senate Majority Leader Reid
Senate Minority Leader McConnell
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