No Deal: Boehner Fiscal Cliff Proposal Is An Insult

Dec 17, 2012 by Casey Danson

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By Isaiah J. Poole | December 17, 2012

We have two words for House Speaker John Boehner’s latest proposal in the fiscal showdown between congressional conservatives and the rest of the country: No deal.

Campaign for America’s Future co-directors Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey have both issued condemnations of the latest proposal, which would reportedly allow tax rates to go up on incomes over $1 million in exchange for reducing the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

“Speaker Boehner doesn’t get it. Demanding cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as a price for long overdue fairer taxes on the richest Americans isn’t an offer; it is an insult,” Borosage said. “Using the debt ceiling to hold the country hostage to exact otherwise unacceptable cuts in education and other vital domestic programs is disreputable policy and politics. Offering to hold off a year before taking the next hostage does not remove the threat. Clearly the president and Democrats have two words to say to the speaker: No deal.

“The top 1 percent of Americans pocketed fully 93 percent of the income growth over the last couple of years. Boehner suggests that a small increase in the tax rates of millionaires is acceptable only if benefits are cut for Social Security recipients or 65- and 66-year-olds go without Medicare, adding an estimated $2,200 a year to their health insurance premiums. No deal. Better simply to let the Bush tax cuts expire and revive them for 98 percent of Americans in January.”

“If this is what a so-called `Grand Bargain’ looks like, it is nothing more than a `Grand Swindle:’ a measly tax increase on the super-wealthy followed by unnecessary and draconian cuts to our vulnerable seniors,” said Hickey. “America’s elderly are not the problem. Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. Medicare faces insolvency because of price gouging by the insurance and drug industries. If the deficit hawks are serious, they would demand a public health insurance option and government bargaining power to lower drug prices. But they are not serious. They are only looking for excuses to dismantle the New Deal. Democrats should say: `No Deal.’”

In Washington at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, a coalition of organizations is organizing a rally on the Senate side of the Capitol to protest cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The Campaign for America’s Future is endorsing the rally. The so-called deficit hawks have pulled out the stops to make a deal that punishes seniors while hardly scratching millionaires look like acceptable compromise. Now is the time to make the thought of being complicit such a swindle politically toxic.

4 Comments

Jack Lohman December 17th, 2012 at 4:36 PM

Yes, I’d accept that deal *IF* the D’s and R’s would (a) implement public funding of campaigns, and (b) put congressmen on a pay-for-performance basis, and (c) require that ALL government employees be on the same Medicare and Social Security that we geezers are on.

Now watch both sides squirm.

Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net

DHFabian December 17th, 2012 at 4:57 PM

For decades, govt has been cutting from the needs of the people and the country, redistributing all of that money upward, to the rich, and maintaining extreme military spending. The US has remained engaged in war more often than not for the past century! That’s insane! We cut General Assistance (welfare) down to zero, and redistributed that money upward. Then AFDC was “reformed” right out of existence, redistributing that money upward. A massive amount of spending, for everything from mental health care to schools, parks to emergency services, has been cut to the bone, with all of that money redistributed upward. Enough! Stop paying corporations the cost of shipping our jobs out, get the rich off of welfare and get out of the war business.

Jack Lohman December 17th, 2012 at 5:12 PM

@dhfabian: Sorry, can’t do it. The wealthy CEOs fund their elections and cash bribes would come to a halt if money no longer bought favors. The ONLY answer is a 100% turnover in 2014. We have to get pissed, and show it.

AnneM December 17th, 2012 at 5:11 PM

When I heard about Boehner’s deal on the radio this morning I could scarcely contain my anger. The frightening thing is that he may convince enough people that this is a reasonable compromise – after all you have to have experienced Social Security and Medicare to know that, when done properly, they can help, but to cut them in order to make up for tax gifts to the rich is so egregious that it should make every one’s blood boil.