Subject: Fw: CREDO: Secretary Clinton must oppose Social Security benefit cuts
From: Brent Budowsky <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>, Roy Spence <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 15:23:46 -0400

If Hillary Clinton is seriously considering supporting any cut in social security and/or an increase in the retirement age there may be an argument for voters to cast a protest vote for Bernie in Iowa and New Hampshire. I will soon be writing a column calling for an increase in social security financed by a speculation transaction tax and will directly address HRCS position based on whatever it is when I write the column. Seniors will be livid when they realize they will get no social security cola when their cost of living keeps rising.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.
From: Josh Nelson <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 3:02 PM
To: Josh Nelson
Subject: CREDO: Secretary Clinton must oppose Social Security benefit cuts

CREDO Action released the following statement in response to a report
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-backs-use-of-death-penalty-1446062646>
that Secretary Hillary Clinton did not rule out cuts to Social Security and
raising the retirement age in her remarks at a campaign event in New
Hampshire on Wednesday:

“Democratic primary voters deserve to know exactly where Secretary Clinton
stands on Social Security,” said Murshed Zaheed, CREDO’s deputy political
director. “Sec. Clinton needs to draw a line in the sand and make it clear
that she will veto any bill that cuts Social Security benefits or raises
the retirement age.”

Secretary Clinton’s full remarks on Social Security at Wednesday’s
“politics and eggs” luncheon at Saint Anselm College can be found below:

Yes you know, I think there are three parts to what we have to do with
social security and the first is we really have to defend social security
from the continuing efforts by some to privatize it, which I have been
studying and opposing for a long time because the numbers just don’t work
out. And in the Bush administration when I was in the Senate I was one of
the leaders in the fight against the Bush plan to privatize and it is
something that I number 1, we’ll focus on: we are not going to privatize
social security. Secondly, I am concerned about those people on social
security who are most vulnerable in terms of what their monthly payout is.
That is primarily divorced, widowed, single women who either never worked
themselves or worked only a little so they have either just their own
earnings to depend on or they had a spouse who also was a low wage worker
and the first and most important task I think is to make sure that we get
the monthly payment for the poorest social security recipients up. So that
would be the first thing I would look at. Thirdly, we do have to consider
ways to make sure that the funding of social security does maintain the
system. I think we have a number of options, this would be something that I
would look at, I do not favor raising the retirement age. And I don’t favor
it because it might be fine for somebody like me, but the vast majority of
working people who have worked hard and have had a difficult, maybe last
couple of decades trying to continue to work, it would be very challenging
for them. If there were a way to do it that would not penalize or punish
laborers and factory workers and long distance truck drivers and people who
really are ready for retirement at a much earlier age, I would consider it.
But I have yet to find any recommendation that I would think would be
suitable. And I want to look at raising the cap, I think that’s something
we should look at how we do it, because I don’t want it to be an extra
burden on middle class families and in some parts of the country, you know,
there’s a different level of income that defines middle class. So what do
we skip and what level do we start at? And we have to consider that. So
those are my three priorities in looking at social security.

BACKGROUND

CREDO has played a leading role in the fight to stop any cuts to Social
Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and expand the programs. Here are some
highlights of CREDO’s work so far in 2015:

200,000 ACTIVISTS TO BOEHNER: NO CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: In
response to House Republicans’ January rule change that stopped the routine
reallocation of Social Security payroll tax income from the old-age program
to the disability program, more than 200,000 CREDO activists signed a rapid
response petition <http://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_ss_cuts/> telling
Speaker Boehner and House Republicans not to use the rule change to force
benefit cuts.

175,000 CREDO ACTIVISTS CONDEMN RAND PAUL’S ATTACK ON SOCIAL SECURITY: When
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said that a majority of people who receive
Social Security disability benefits are “gaming the system,” CREDO
activists fought back. More than 175,000 activists nationwide signed our
petition <http://act.credoaction.com/sign/rand_paul_ssdi/> telling Senator
Paul to “stop attacking disabled Americans and keep [his] hands off of
Social Security.”

235,000+ ACTIVISTS URGE CONGRESS TO EXPAND SOCIAL SECURITY: CREDO activists
went on offense earlier this year, with more than 239,000 signing a petition
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/expand_social_security/> telling Congress
to expand Social Security benefits.

185,000+ FIGHT TO STOP REPUBLICANS’ SNEAK ATTACK ON MEDICARE: In June, more
than 188,000 CREDO activists signed a rapid response petition
<http://act.credoaction.com/sign/tpp_medicare> urging Democrats in Congress
to reject a Republican plan to pay for Trade Adjustment Assistance with an
extension on the sequester on Medicare payments.

DONATED $84,000+ TO SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS IN MARCH 2015 As part of its
innovative model for funding progressive non-profit organizations, CREDO
Mobile donated $84,292 in March 2015 to Social Security Works, a leading
organization in the fight to preserve and expand Social Security. Learn
more about CREDO’s donations program.

<https://www.credodonations.com/>CREDO Action <http://credoaction.com/>,
part of CREDO Mobile <http://credomobile.com/>, is a social change network
of 3.8 million activists, sending millions of petition signatures and more
than 100,000 phone calls to decision-makers each year. CREDO Action members
also participate in meetings, protests and other direct actions for
progressive change. Follow CREDOmobile on Twitter.
<http://twitter.com/credomobile>

--

Josh Nelson

Communications Director, CREDO Action

Mobile: 202-550-6175

Twitter: @josh_nelson <http://twitter.com/josh_nelson> & @CREDOmobile
<http://twitter.com/CREDOmobile>

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