The Hill reports that Senator Durbin, the one who is the closest to the White House, and one of the participants in the Gang of Six, wants changes to Social Security by turning Social Security into a welfare program for the poor.
Durbin said he wouldn't be signing on to a "Sense of the Senate" resolution by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a liberal who caucuses with Democrats, saying that benefits should not be cut. And he warned that revisions to the program, such as means-testing benefits for wealthier Americans, could be among the changes suggested by the negotiators.
"If we deal with it today, it's an easier solution than waiting. I think we ought to deal with it. Many of my colleagues disagree, [and would] put it off to another day," Durbin said of Social Security in a video interview with ABC News posted Tuesday. "But from my point of view, leaving it out makes it easier politically — including it, I think, meets an obligation, which we have to senior citizens."
This is what they're discussing as a way to put conditions on raising the debt ceiling limit in order to get votes from Republicans in spite of a long history of clean debt ceiling limit votes. They want to dismantle Social Security, in which everyone has a vested interest in the program, and make it into a welfare program like Medicaid to be easier to be chipped off, looted, and pillaged for Wall Street.
If we don't speak up LOUD today about this, they will take our silence as assent. Say NO to the Social Security cuts proposed by the Gang of Six, and LET THEM KNOW LOUD AND CLEAR, especially Senator Durbin today!
Here's McJoan pointing out the inconvenient fact that Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit, shouldn't be included in any sort of "compromise" to raise the debt ceiling limit, and that it is not in an immediate crisis:
Of course, it won't be "nearly broke" in 26 years. With no intervention in the next quarter century, it would still pay out 75% of benefits beginning in 2038. Quick action on Social Security isn't vital to the program's survival, although lifting the payroll tax cap now would certainly provide a big boost the program, now and for the next 75 years of the program. Durbin, as the chief ally of Obama and a supporter of the catfood commission among the Dems, is a more serious force to contend with when it comes to holding a tough line on Social Security cuts.
Scroll all the way down to the bottom to see Durbin's office numbers to make the phone call:
WASHINGTON, D.C.
711 Hart Senate Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
9 am to 6 pm ET
(202) 224-2152 - phone
(202) 228-0400 - fax
CHICAGO
230 S Dearborn St.
Suite 3892
Chicago, IL 60604
8:30 am to 5 pm
(312) 353-4952 - phone
(312) 353-0150 - fax
SPRINGFIELD
525 South 8th St.
Springfield, IL 62703
8:30 am to 5 pm
(217) 492-4062 - phone
(217) 492-4382 - fax
CARBONDALE
250 W. Cherry Street
Suite 115-D
Carbondale, IL 62901
8:30 am to 5 pm
(618) 351-1122 - phone
(618) 351-1124 - fax
And let Senator Reid know you won't stand for this as well! Use the link below to CALL HIM to say no to SS cuts and to means-testing by scrolling down to find the phone numbers for his office!
It's time to take action today! Make those calls, kossacks!