Rep. DeLauro: Budget Conference Committee Will Not Tinker With Social Security
Rep. DeLauro: Budget Conference Committee Will Not Tinker With Social Security
Last week, House and Senate negotiators “struck a tentative deal” on the FY 2010 budget, including an agreement to use the reconciliation process to push through health care legislation. Under this process, the bill would be “protected from filibusters and passed by a simple majority vote.” Democrats have made clear that they would prefer to use the normal process, but are unable to proceed because of GOP obstruction. However, until recently, some Democrats — such as Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) — still resisted.
Conrad is one of the Democrats who has been chosen to serve on the budget conference committee, which is set to have a formal meeting today and then continue closed-door negotiations on Friday and through the weekend. “One outstanding question is what Conrad may get in exchange for not standing in the way of reconciliation provisions,” CQ wrote last week. Conrad, in reply, said, “Would I want things? Yeah.”
Ezra Klein worried that Conrad had “extracted promises that the administration would let him start tinkering with Social Security.” Yglesias pointed out that Rep. Allen Boyd (D-FL) is also a confereee, and was the only Democrat to support President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security in 2005. Klein added:
That gives means five of eight conferees — Conrad, Boyd, Gregg, Ryan, and Hensarling — would be inclined to muck about with Social Security. It’s not solid evidence that Social Security is vulnerable. But when combined with Conrad’s odd quote above, it’s suggestive.
Today, however, ThinkProgress interviewed Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who was at the Center for American Progress to speak about Equal Pay Day 2009. DeLauro is also one of the eight budget conferees, and she said that the group would not be tinkering with Social Security:
DELAURO: As far as my understanding is concerned, is that there is not going to be any reference to Social Security. Social Security will be a discussion that will come in our overall health care debate, but my understanding is that at the moment, it is not part of the budget conference.
Watch it:
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Kent Conrad always wants things. He was on the list of Friends of Angelo, the CountryWide CEO who gave low interest loans to important people.
Kent accepts donations from for-profit health care companies:
HCA $4,000
Triad $5,000
Yet neither HCA nor Triad has one hospital in North Dakota. The list of donors with no North Dakota facilities gets larger when one looks at LifePoint, Kindred Healthcare ($9,750), Universal Health Services ($4,000), and Tenet Health Care ($2,000).
As for Kent’s interest in helping his other donors, many health insurers funded his campaign in 2005-2006. UnitedHealth ($6,000), WellPoint ($4,500), Aetna ($5,000) and Humana ($2,000) all kicked into Senator Conrad’s coffers.
Does Kent want something? Yeah….
April 27th, 2009 at 7:06 pmIf five out of eight are inclined to screw around with SS, one Rosa De lauro ain’t gonna make a shittin bit of difference…
I don’t trust these phuquers anywhere near a pil of money that big…
April 27th, 2009 at 7:08 pmThe information above came from a post I did in 2007.
http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2007/02/bush-only-wants-to-improve-private.html
It’s time to update Kent’s donor list. I’ll let you know what I find.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:09 pmI think the Obama Administration must address this issue, but there are other crucial issues that cannot be forgotten. The U.S. should be doing way more to address the Millennium Development Goals.
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.
(source: borgenproject.org.)
April 27th, 2009 at 7:30 pmHow about we cut back on foreign aid to Israel?
April 27th, 2009 at 7:38 pmHey Conrad: what you’re doing now? That’s why people hate Congress so much. Americans don’t appreciate having their counrty’s future held hostage to your personal extortion tactics.
.
Tenisci Says:
How about you quit spamming that into every post here? You’re really not making any friends that way.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:57 pmTinkering with Social Security was prefaced by Tim Geither’s comment at the Council on Foreign Relations. He pandered to Pete Peterson, the billionaire Blackstone Group founder, when Tim said everyone is a fiscal hawk now, there are no doves left. Peterson started a foundation in his name. It made the movie IOUSA. He wants spending cut and no new taxes.
Last week President Obama gave his fireside chat on PAYGO. The SS surplus is carrying a chunk of the budget. Any Kent Conrad tinkering would occur within that context. He can pander to the big money boys as well as any kept politician.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:02 pmWhile we are on the topic of Social Security, is anyone else as pissed off as me that GWB was able to steal almost a TRILLION dollars from the fund and there seemed to be not a peep from anyone in the media?? I think the last figure I saw was 980 Billion dollars, but that was in Sept 08, not sure what the final tally really was.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:11 pmTypo: that is Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) … she is my rep. DeLauro has a solid record and probably knows whereof she speaks.
Rosa DeLauro
Scared me for a moment … thought I was voting in the wrong state.
Thanks.
mp
April 27th, 2009 at 8:40 pmYeah, like I really believe or trust the Blue Dog Democrats anymore than I believe or trust the Red Cur Republicans, or any of the conservatives who have done and continue to do severe damage to our liberal democracy.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:03 pmen güzel oyunlar3d oyunlar oyunlaren güzel oyunlar indirgerçek oyunlarbedava oyun oyna indir
April 27th, 2009 at 10:38 pmIf they had privatized social security it would have been a disaster today
April 27th, 2009 at 10:40 pmAre you sure you don’t want to turn it over to Wall Street?
Can you imagine where it would be if Bush had succeeded in privatizing? The fund has always made money because everyone pays into it. But the administrations have been breaking the law since Reagan. They have been raiding it to pay off the national debt they made. It has been illegal, but they have done it anyway. They have been robbing us all. Even the republicans who pay into it. It does not get the kind of press it should. Look into the righteous anger of Chris Dodd some time back. They break the law ever time they steal from it.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:56 amIt is her “understanding” that the committee will not tinker with Social Security. Somehow, with 5/8 wanting to destroy SS, it doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy when she says that.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:10 pmThanks Sites Sesli Sohbet
April 30th, 2009 at 8:33 amSesli Chat
SesliSohbet
SesliChat