Here's your early afternoon roundup of Social Security news:
- Federal officials have taken down that list of federal properties for sale but a new list is "Coming Soon."
- AARP is urging its members to contact their representatives in Congress to tell them that Social Security must be protected.
- 152 House Democrats have written the Acting Commissioner of Social Security to express "grave concern" over office closings and workforce reductions.
- No link on this but House Democrats plan to introduce three bills tomorrow to keep Social Security offices open, block DOGE access to Social Security data and to compel the President to account for DOGE activities at Social Security to this point.
- Jack Svahn, former Commissioner of Social Security, thinks that Congress won't act on Social Security's long term funding problems until things become critical. He's right. There's no point wringing your hands over it today. Nothing will happen for several years.
- A current Social Security employee talks movingly about the trauma being inflicted on agency employees.
- A retired Social Security employee writes about the cuts at his old agency.
By the way, if the response from House Democrats to the crisis at Social Security seems tepid to you, just what do you think that the minority party in both Houses of Congress can do? Seriously, what would you have them do? I can suggest one thing -- force a government shutdown unless the White House agrees to end the madness throughout the government -- but they're doing that. Expect a government shutdown next week.
11 comments:
The attention paid to Congress should be directed toward the Republican members to codify the Social Security Administration, since they are the ones that hold the cards. AARP is a good start, but it needs to be times 100. Democrats have wasted their political capital with the public screaming about inconsequential subjects, and are ignored now that they actually have something of substance to discuss.
They might go along with a quick shutdown. But I would bet all my savings that they’ll cave before the weekend is over, then roll over and give Trump his tax cut extension and anything else he wants passed along with it with no strings attached.
And as for what they could do, they could be spending their time and money filing lawsuits like the GOP did throughout the Obama and Biden terms. But I guess it’s better to leave the problems unaddressed lest you give people the notion that we’re not in a code-red situation whose only remedy is more money for the campaign workers (who seem to do little good with it).
I can tell you what they shouldn't do. Make juvenile homemade signs and engage in middle school like disruptive, immature behavior. At a time when Americans are looking for adults in the room and calm instead of chaos, the Democrats chose to present themselves as petulant children. In doing so, they missed a good opportunity to contrast themselves with Trump/Maga Republicans. I thought Sen. Slotkin gave the precise message Democrats needed to give in her response. It was measured, reasonable, and highlighted tangible problems with the MAGA agenda. It was wholly diminished by the immature theatrics of House Democrats at the SOTU speech. That behavior doesn't give anyone confidence you are ready and able to govern.
Democrats (Republicans too) at all levels (Congressional, State, Governors) need to pull everybody fire alarm across the country now. Talk to every news agency - local, state and national. Talk about the crisis now and what privatization of retirement/disability means. Setup up town halls. Go to every retirement community. Should be raising the alarm that this impacts every citizen, your parents, your children, your siblings, your family, your friends and your community no matter who you voted for. Wall Street and the big banks will not protect you when they privatize retirement. Government vendors will try the place of State DDSs. These vendors with not protect you when they outsource disability Determinations.
And republican anti-consumer tariffs and tax cuts for the wealthy is a sign of good governance?
It's not democrat philosophy which must change but it's the racist,sexist voter belief(DEI,etc)that elected trump must change. But red states will learn with these tariffs
I fully expect a shutdown next Friday and I will not be surprised if it is the longest one ever since Trump wants it shut down until he gets his way.
Shut down is like Thanos, inevitable.
First off, no Republican is doing or saying squat. They're all scared to death to say anything remotely critical of the multi-billionaire and his best floridian BFF. Secondly, who are these private vendors that have the capacity/personnel to absorb the over 1 million pending disability cases pending at the initial, reconsideration and continuing review levels? People shake their heads at delays now, wait until the average case's processing time is 18 months. Lastly, does anyone think when push comes to shove, congress will ignore the 79% of voters who like SSA and actually vote to privatize it? I guess if fear of the president outweighs fear of their angry voters, maybe they will.
Being the adults in the room hasn't worked for Democrats. We need brawlers right now.
That's a ridiculous take @1:50pm. The party that engages at that level just (barely, to be fair) took the presidency and both houses of Congress. I'm all for Democrats updating their messaging to fit the times. And really, people should just be polite about fighting fascism? I'm so done with this mentality. It hasn't worked and it's time for something new.
For decades, new parents across the United States have been able to check a box on hospital forms in order to request Social Security numbers for their newborns.
That’s no longer the case in Maine, where parents will have to visit a Social Security field office thanks to a shocking move by President Donald Trump’s administration.
A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services told HuffPost on Thursday that the Social Security Administration said it had canceled two contracts with Maine’s vital statistics program that support Social Security’s electronic “enumeration at birth” program.
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