How House Progressives Can Stop the Catfood Commission From Slashing Social Security

[t0dd]

There is strong concern that the lame-duck Congress will be used to pass the Catfood Commission’s recommendations to slash America’s social safety net with cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. The idea of a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress allowing cuts to our great social programs that will result in millions of seniors falling into poverty is a horrifying thought. Fortunately, progressives in the House have the power to stop this if they are willing to play hardball politics.

The Catfood Commission, conveniently, won’t release its recommendations until early December. That’s too late to let voters incorporate it into their judgment before the November election but not too late for a lame-duck Congress to pass it. Clearly the Catfood Commission members hold extreme contempt for the idea of letting us, the unwashed masses of the country, actually get to shape government policy using this thing called democracy.

If the Catfood Commission suggests a bill slashing Social Security benefits and it comes to a vote in the House, it is likely to pass with the votes of Republicans and conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Even if all the progressive-leaning Democrats oppose it on a straight vote, it will probably pass. Progressives likely won’t have the votes to defeat it on the floor.

But they should have the votes to prevent it from ever reaching the floor if they are willing to play hardball. Here’s how:

The Catfood Commission’s cuts to Social Security can never become law if they don’t get a vote on the floor. As Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is fully capable of preventing any bill she doesn’t want to from coming to the floor during the lame-duck Congress. Liberal Democrats can apply pressure by promising to remove Pelosi (and all other House Democratic leaders) from any leadership position in the House, forever, if she allows a bill cutting Social Security to reach the floor.

Members of the Progressive, Populist, African-American and Hispanic caucuses should easily make up the majority of the Democratic caucus in the 112th Congress, about a quarter of all House members. Their percentage of the overall Democratic Caucus should only increase after November, even as the caucus as a whole loses members. This means if they act together, they will have the power to elect or defeat any individual for a caucus leadership position. The threat should carry even more weight on this issue, because the very next vote after any action in the lame-duck session will be votes on caucus business at the start of the next Congress.

...

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/07/23/how-house-progressives-can-stop-the-catfood-commission-from-slashing-social-security/

[Skink]

1. I'm gonna vote against Obama if he reneges on campaign speeches...

where he said all it requires is raising the cap.

[MineralMan]

2. Maybe if this Commission was referred to by its actual name,

I'd be more inclined to read this. The whole "Catfood Commission" thing is really annoying. It makes the assumption that the Commission will inevitably recommend reducing Social Security recipients to abject poverty.

The use of sarcastic pejorative pseudonyms for actual bodies is a poor way to approach the discussion, as far as I am concerned. It helps nobody follow what is going on and inhibits further research. So, call it by its actual name, and I'll participate.

[Skink]

4. We don't need a commision on this just Presidential leadership.

[Hannah Bell]

7. presidential leadership created the commission -- by executive order.

and it's his leadership that appointed the rabid "entitlement" opponent simpson as co-chair.

[JDPriestly]

5. Check out the Alan Simpson interview on this topic.

The Commission is about cutting Medicare and Social Security costs. That's mostly what it appears to be aiming to do.

Catfood Commission is absolutely accurate.

In the early 1970s, when I lived in London, an elderly woman was in line ahead of me in the grocery store paying for cans of cat food. When it came my turn to pay, the cashier looked at me with an expression of shock and said, "She buys that to eat herself."

Elderly people have been reduced in certain countries at certain times to eating cat food. Cutting the small benefits that the elderly receive in our country would be counterproductive. There is nothing to cut. Contrary to popular belief, Social Security recipients do pay taxes on their incomes. A portion of the Social Security benefit is tax-free I believe.

Also, the average Social Security benefit in December 2009 was something like $1,064, around that amount. That's not a lot to live on. It's just barely above subsistence.

Catfood Commission is accurate.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I agree, since I am newer here, I am still trying to figure out what

exactly the "catfood commission" is. And every time I see a thread about it, I open it to try to figure it all out. Someone help me out here.

[JDPriestly]

8. Google Alan Simpson and Firedog Lake.

Simpson gave an infamous interview that tells you more about the Catfood Commission that you could dream of knowing.

[MineralMan]

11. It's actually called the Deficit Commission, and you can

find out more about it by Googling that phrase. The Catfood Commission will only lead you to sites that present one view of it. It's a FUD campaign (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) that renamed it.

What it will report is still unknown. Once the report is available, then it will be up to Congress to either implement the recommendations in the report or reject them. To hear some talk, the fix is already in and there is no alternative to what they predict the report will recommend.

I'm still looking into it, trying to find unbiased information. It's not easy.

[Curmudgeoness]

13. Thanks...mystery solved. I know, all I had to do is ask.

I will also spend some time with Alan Simpson and Firedog Lake just to get the whole idea.

[county worker]

17. Once the cat is out of the bag you could very well be screwed and you have no choice in the matter.

I can't see anyone in their right mind thinking that is a good thing.

[MineralMan]

18. Really? Seems to me that Congress has to act on that report

before anything at all happens. Commission reports come out all the time. They have no authority. They're just reports. We do have some influence on Congress, though. We'll have more if we don't sit on our hands in November, won't we?

[county worker]

19. The very fact that it is a deficit commission and not an unemployment commission means

you are already screwed! Jebusss there are none so blind as they who will not see!

[Donnachaidh]

21. *unbiased* information?

So people should just STFU and wait for the press releases *after* they've shredded the last of the social safety net for seniors? That *plethora* of *biased* information out there makes it crystal clear to a blind man that Simpson and his sidekick have been wanting to shred SS for YEARS.

And our reps in the WH just handed them a BIG ole knife to do so -- BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

Say -- perhaps YOU can tell me whatever happened to that campaign promise of TRANSPARENCY? You know, doing things out in the open? :sarcasm:

[t0dd]

9. Okay, you heard it everyone: Make sure to tailor anything you post to how MineralMan likes it.

In particular, don't use confusing words like "catfood"; however appropriate that description may be, it's just too sarcastic a word for comprehension.. Andd.. if you don't, MineralMan will cross his arms and pout and "refuse to participate". :eyes:

[Individualist]

10. rofl

:thumbsup:

[MineralMan]

12. Yes, that's exactly what I said. Whether anyone does that is up

to the individual, like everything else. I have no way to compel anyone to do anything.

[Donnachaidh]

22. yeah, some people love the smell of press releases in the morning.

Heaven FORBID someone should mislabel a pet project! :gasp: :swoon:

[Ignis]

24. Oh, that's it, you're definitely on the Bad List now.

Welcome! :hug:

[Jim Sagle]

14. Translation: Cutting Social Security and starving the elderly is OK, bad manners is terrible.

David Brooks, is that you?

[county worker]

16. You can't follow what's going on and the name cat food commission labels it just as most here see it...

The deficit is not the most important problem we face, Economists and the Fed say we need more stimulus to get over the recession. This commission is only there to appease the right. Even a repub heads it up. It should get all the scorn it can possibly get!

[eridani]

25. If they aren't going to fuck over retirees, why not meet in public? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

3. i seem to recall pelosi was the one who inserted a clause into some war spending bill

allowing it to come for a vote if recommendations were unanimous?

refresh my memory here...

oh, yes, here it is:



BREAKING: Pelosi Sneaked Approval of Vote on Debt Commission Recommendations into Rule Regarding War Funding, Vote Happening Tonight
By: Jane Hamsher Thursday July 1, 2010 4:26 pm

http://firedoglake.com/2010/07/01/breaking-pelosi-sneaks-approval-of-vote-on-debt-commission-recommendations-into-rule-regarding-war-funding/

[MineralMan]

15. It's instructive to look at what the conservatives are saying about

the Deficit Commission, or the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which is its official name.

They're pissed because it's loaded with "Liberals." The Progressives are pissed because it has some non-progressives on the panel. Everyone appears to be pissed.

The bottom line is that the report and recommendations of this Commission have no authority whatsoever. Congress can scoff it it and toss it in the circular file, if they want to. Further, we have no idea, yet, what its recommendations will be. On one hand, we have Firedoglake and others saying it's just going to cut Social Security. Oddly, the conservatives are equally sure it's going to raise taxes.

I propose that we wait and see what the report says, and then what the Congress does with it. There are always commissions. They make reports. Many of those go into the dustbin of history.

What will this report say? I don't know. What will Congress do with it? I don't know.

I know this: We have an election in November. Much will be determined by that election. I'm planning to work very hard to get Democrats elected to the House in November. I'm hoping everyone else will be doing that, too. It's hard to tell, though, by reading some threads on DU.

[NorthCarolina]

20. Long shot...I guess we can say goodbye to the safety net for the elderly.

The Conservative Dems will do what the GOP has been trying to accomplish for decades. Go figure. I guess it can't be denied that this is "Change".

[slipslidingaway]

23. knr nt