House may surprise us yet!
House leaders check this out, another poll, this one is news we can use.
Latest poll shows majority against lowering the payroll tax and exposing social security to Republican/Obama threats.
There may be some reason to hope that House will still act to protect SS!
Poll: Voters Oppose Payroll Tax Cut
Posted Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:48 AM | By David Weigel
This is a bit of a surprise in the ABC News/Washington Post poll, as the payroll tax cut has become one of the very few things economics on all sides see to be a good stimulus.
Time to make some calls!
Facebook/Tweet/Email this and ask folks to call Congress and educate them about this latest poll.
MoveOn describes the problem
Problem #1: The deal is a stealth attack on Social Security.
The deal will lower the payroll tax—the tax that funds the Social Security trust. This is a trap for Democrats. Republicans have been coming after Social Security for years and this cut is the biggest threat to the vital program in decades. It will cut one-third of Social Security's funding this year alone and when we need to restore the payroll tax back to its current level, Republicans will cry "tax increases" and could gut it permanently. 1
There have been an inordinate amount of polls touted in the trad media, some amounting to push polling on the tax cut.
This poll shows that folks want Social Security protected.
Top Dem Leader describes it thus:
Top Democrat Identifies Another Threat To Social Security In Obama Tax Plan
TPMDC - Brian Beutler - 7 hours ago
Progressive advocates, and a wide swath of the Democratic party, oppose Obama's call for a partial employee payroll tax holiday. Not because they don't want ...
snip
"What they've done is put social security in a package with the Bush tax rates and the [Alternative Minimum Tax] fix and the estate tax and business expensing," Holt said in a phone interview yesterday. "And it's [become] something you deal: you take a little bit here, you give a little bit there."
Holt worries that if Congress and the White House unite to turn the payroll tax into a budget item, then it's only a matter of time before it loses its uniqueness, and then it will be susceptible to attacks from its long-standing enemies.
"Social Security becomes something we use to stimulate the economy, next year we'll use it to balance the budget -- it becomes another government program like the Endowment for the Arts," Holt said. "Ever since 1935 there have been dedicated enemies of Social Security and the reason it has been able to withstand the attacks is that it is special. If that goes away, Social Security goes away in no time flat."
House members need our support to claw back some protection for Social Security.
Barney Frank isvoting no.
House is still in flux:
House Democratic leaders are debating among themselves on how to handle the estate tax, which as written would tax families at 35 percent on property worth over $5 million. Democrats it should be 45 percent on estates worth more than $3.5 million.
The other problem is the Social Security payroll tax holiday that reduces employee contributions from 6 percent to 4 percent. The cost for the one-year holiday is $120 billion.snip
Protect social security from the Catfoodists, kossacks!
Facebook/Tweet/Email this and ask folks to call Congress and educate them about this latest poll.
Update: I made my call. Please make yours! Word just in from my Rep, Lloyd Doggett:
Liberals warn payroll tax cut is a threat to Social Security
The Hill - Mike Lillis - 21 minutes ago
ehind Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), the Democrats maintain the one-year payroll-tax holiday will likely be extended in future years, leaving Social Security to compete with other programs for funding — and threatening seniors' benefits over the long haul.
"There's a very good reason why people pay Social Security taxes — so they'll get Social Security," Doggett said at a press conference in the Capitol. "I'd rather have nothing done in this area than to do great harm."
UPDATE 2
Would you please call your Reps and ask them to support Doggett's amendment?
202-224-3121
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) warned the provision could dismantle Social Security's ownership-based funding mechanism, in which workers pay into the program while they’re employed to tap the benefits in retirement.
"It undermines the very rationale of Social Security in ways that could do long-term damage," Holt said. "As much as we need economic stimulus now, we will need Social Security for decades to come."
Doggett said it's unclear how much support he'll have for his amendment. The tax package — which passed the Senate 81-19 on Wednesday — is scheduled for consideration in the House Rules Committee Wednesday afternoon. House Democratic leaders have said the final vote on the bill will likely be Thursday.
Doggett and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), among the most vocal critics of the White House proposal, both said they intend to vote against the package unless the payroll-tax provision is altered.