As a result of the idiot sheep on the right, along with whiny, lazy-assed non-voting folks, Conservatives have the numbers in Congress to wreak their particular brand of havoc on the nation. Where better to begin than an attack on the working class right off the bat?
Knuckleheads on the Right took the GOP at its word that their first priority would be “jobs and the economy”, totally unaware that jobs and the economy have already been rebounding for some time now. Unfortunately, when people’s only information comes from an arm of the GOP posing as a “news” station, or some rotund, drop-out, radio jock, they remain devastatingly ignorant, to the detriment of the entire country.
As most non-Conservatives could have predicted, the GOP’s focus would actually be the beginning of the dismantling of America, their only true goal for most of recent history. And so it begins. TPMDC reports:
With a little-noticed proposal, Republicans took aim at Social Security on the very first day of the 114th Congress.
The incoming GOP majority approved late Tuesday a new rule that experts say could provoke an unprecedented crisis that conservatives could use as leverage in upcoming debates over entitlement reform.The largely overlooked change puts a new restriction on the routine transfer of tax revenues between the traditional Social Security retirement trust fund and the Social Security disability program. The transfers, known as reallocation, had historically been routine; the liberal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said Tuesday that they had been made 11 times.
The House GOP’s rule change would still allow for a reallocation from the retirement fund to shore up the disability fund — but only if an accompanying proposal “improves the overall financial health of the combined Social Security Trust Funds,” per the rule, expected to be passed on Tuesday. While that language is vague, experts say it would likely mean any reallocation would have to be balanced by new revenues or benefit cuts.
With a little-noticed proposal, Republicans took aim at Social Security on the very first day of the 114th Congress.Ah yes, the “new revenues”, which in GOP speak means anything and everything other than new tax revenues. What they really want, have always wanted, is the benefit cuts. Now, as Social Security Works tells TPM:
“… the Republican rule will allow Social Security to be held hostage.”
On their own site, SSW writes:
It is an old tactic of the program’s opponents to seek to divide and conquer. They seek to turn young against old by falsely claiming that too much is being spent on the old. They seek to turn African Americans against whites with the preposterous claim that Social Security is unfair to blacks. (We document and refute these and many other claims in our new book).
This time they seek to drive a wedge between retired workers and disabled workers by claiming that reallocation helps the disabled at the expense of the old – another preposterous claim. All of these divide-and-conquer strategies are intended to turn Americans against each other so that all of their benefits can be cut.
Then there’s the anticipated attack on the Affordable Care Act; Republicans are attempting to change the definition of full time, so your employer can reduce your hours to get out of insuring you. Mother Jones reports:
Republicans plan to vote on a bill that would gut Obamacare—and could deprive up to 1.5 million Americans of their employer-sponsored health insurance. The law defines employees who work 30 or more hours per week as full time. The legislation … would change the definition of full time to 40 hours per week for purposes of the law. Companies that don’t want to provide health insurance for their employees can avoid doing so by cutting workers’ hours.
“I call this the ‘send people home a half hour early on Friday and deny them health insurance’ bill,” says Tim Jost, a health care law scholar at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who has consulted with the Obama administration on implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Conservatives in Congress are so hell-bent on destroying the first opportunity to have healthcare for millions of Americans, they’ll gladly allow employers to cut their employees’ hours to do it. So, on top of losing your insurance, you could lose wages as well. And Social Security? Not if they can help it.
That’s your “job creators” for you.
That’s Conservatives’ idea of a better America.