Congress votes to destroy Social Security, 233-184

Those April showers have drowned the media this year with reports of a petulant, prosthetic protuberant princess, also know as “What’s Her Name” or “Smarmy Scandals.”

Meanwhile, back in Congress, 233 members – 54% of that angst body – voted to destroy the Social Security system by not allowing the use of its $2.9 trillion in reserves, forcing cuts of up to 24% in coming years.

As a big boy bonus, this bookkeeping manipulation will allow the fiscal twits to proclaim that nearly three trillion dollars has been cut from the National Debt. These reserves come from excess FICA taxes previously paid by Americans to subsidize years where there was a tax collection shortfall.

But like Tiger Woods winning this year’s Masters (tied at 32), it was not to be. The bill – H.J. Res 2 – required a 66% vote to pass. It fell short by 12%, but under House rules this Constitutional Amendment can be brought up over and over again.

Lame duck Speaker Paul Ryan described the so-called Balanced Budget Amendment bill this way:

H.J.Res. 2 amends the Constitution of the United States to require three-fifths of both legislative bodies to approve spending that exceeds government revenue, require three-fifths of both legislative bodies to raise the limit on the debt, and require the President to submit a proposed budget to Congress in which total outlays do not exceed total receipts. Congress may wave these requirements for any fiscal year the United States is engaged in military conflict that causes an imminent and serious military threat to national security and is so declared by a joint resolution.

What sounds good in Washington can hide evil intent, and Joe Baker, President of the Medicare Rights Center, and Judith Stein, Executive Director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, quickly caught on to the charade, explaining in a letter to Congress:

…we are troubled that a balanced budget amendment would require expenditures in any year to be offset by revenues collected in that same year. This would prevent the Medicare program from using the Part A trust fund for its intended purpose of paying beneficiary hospitalization costs, since most of its $200 billion in Treasury securities were collected in prior years.

Similarly, Social Security would be prohibited from using its $2.9 trillion in reserves to pay out retirement benefits.

Such disruptions would end Social Security and Medicare as we know them. The programs would cease to be predictable sources of health and economic security for older adults, people with disabilities, and their families, the majority of whom cannot afford to pay more for basic needs like putting food on the table or visiting a doctor.

Despite propaganda that all seniors are wealthy golfers, who drive a Bentley, the letter explained:

Nearly half of all Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below $26,200 and more than one in five older adults depend on Social Security for 90% of their retirement income.

A balanced budget amendment would leave these and countless more Americans—who contributed to Medicare and Social Security their entire working lives—with significant unanticipated expenditures, little peace of mind, and no ability to plan for the future.

Why would 233 members of Congress vote for this fiasco? Are they all Koch heads, childlike clones of a custodial K Street depository, or just stupid and lazy?

Many of these “entitlement” enemies have been fed intellectual baloney by think tanks, mainstream media, and the evil gremlins of the Birch Society, convincing them that only the likes of Goldman Sachs or Prudential should be entrusted with your savings.

For them, the “free market” demands that someone should make a profit out of the current Social Security program, and thus add pension fees to pay dividends to shareholders and allow even higher pay for financial execs.

The following is a list, by state, district number and name of all those who voted to take away much of your savings with a one-bill flourish of their limp and feckless pens. Remember to never vote for them.