Posted on 03/18/2006 3:04:56 PM PST by eeevil conservative
53 Senators vote to raid the Social Security trust fund
Yesterday, Senators Jim DeMint and Mike Crapo introduced an amendment to prevent the current Social Security Surplus from continuing to be spent. 53 Senators voted against it.
After the vote, DeMint issued the following statement:
Details about the amendment via a DeMint press release are in the extended section.“Sadly, fifty-three senators turned their backs on America’s seniors,” Senator DeMint said. “There is simply no way to save Social Security if we don’t have the courage stop using the surplus as a secret slush fund. I’m thankful there were forty-six senators who stood with America’s seniors to end the raid. We will not be deterred by cynics who offer no solutions.”
“Those who voted against this amendment voted to raid Social Security,” said Senator DeMint. “Now, every senator will be on record whether they oppose or support the raid. This said absolutely nothing about personal accounts, it was about whether you believe Social Security should be saved or allowed to wither on the vine.”
UPDATE: Pasted below are the 53 Senators who voted to raid the fund -- Republicans who should no better are in bold. Click here to see the whole breakdown.
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Stabenow (D-MI) Talent (R-MO) Wyden (D-OR)
The current Social Security system allows Congress to spend the Social Security surplus on other government programs. Including interest, Congress has raided $1.7 trillion from Social Security since 1985. The surplus now only consists of IOU’s stacked in a vault in West Virginia that can only be paid back by raising taxes or cutting spending.
The DeMint-Crapo Amendment to Stop the Raid on Social Security would have allowed the Senate to pass legislation with the following requirements:
· Social Security surpluses must be used to help pay for future benefits
· That it make no changes to the benefits of those Americans born before January 1, 1950
· That it provide a voluntary option for younger Americans to obtain legally binding ownership of a portion of their benefits.
Are you going to bother to thank him, or spank him?
oh- forgive me...him/her...
:-)
What did YOUR Senator do?
Are you going to bother to thank him, or spank him?
oh- forgive me...him/her...
:-)
Cochrane and Lott are not on the AYE list.
Good on them!
B@stards. Kohl & Feingold. Screwing me in my own back yard.
So, what else is new? Thanks for the heads up! I'm pinging away.
"Screwed Again" Ping! :(
Stupid article.
"Raiding" the trust fund is better than letting it sit full of dollars doing nothing but losing their value.
Do you really think it's a good idea to let your money sit in a back without collecting interest? Maybe we should stuff SS money under a matress so it will be nice and safe from those raiders.
I think we're using the wrong language when discussing Social Security. We can start by calling "raiding" what it really is: the purchase of government bonds that earn interest.
Yes. The government is already investing social security money by buying bonds.
About 90% of those raiders are Democrats. How can this be? None of the raiders appear to be from TX, thank goodness!
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Demon Rats and the RINOs need to be thrown to the wolves for this.
Looks like we have some ready-made campaign ads against incumbents out of this.
The Social Security "trust fund" is nothing but an IOU.
So these Senators voted to put an IOU on the IOU.
One white hat-Kit Bond.
One black hat-Jim Talent. Talent also semi-friendly on embryonic stem cell research. Boy, and he is in a very close election race this year.
Nice strategy,Jim.......Enrage the base......
| Alabama: | Sessions (R-AL), Yea | Shelby (R-AL), Yea |
| Alaska: | Murkowski (R-AK), Yea | Stevens (R-AK), Yea |
| Arizona: | Kyl (R-AZ), Yea | McCain (R-AZ), Yea |
| Arkansas: | Lincoln (D-AR), Nay | Pryor (D-AR), Nay |
| California: | Boxer (D-CA), Nay | Feinstein (D-CA), Nay |
| Colorado: | Allard (R-CO), Yea | Salazar (D-CO), Nay |
| Connecticut: | Dodd (D-CT), Nay | Lieberman (D-CT), Nay |
| Delaware: | Biden (D-DE), Nay | Carper (D-DE), Nay |
| Florida: | Martinez (R-FL), Yea | Nelson (D-FL), Nay |
| Georgia: | Chambliss (R-GA), Yea | Isakson (R-GA), Yea |
| Hawaii: | Akaka (D-HI), Nay | Inouye (D-HI), Nay |
| Idaho: | Craig (R-ID), Yea | Crapo (R-ID), Yea |
| Illinois: | Durbin (D-IL), Nay | Obama (D-IL), Nay |
| Indiana: | Bayh (D-IN), Nay | Lugar (R-IN), Nay |
| Iowa: | Grassley (R-IA), Yea | Harkin (D-IA), Nay |
| Kansas: | Brownback (R-KS), Yea | Roberts (R-KS), Yea |
| Kentucky: | Bunning (R-KY), Yea | McConnell (R-KY), Yea |
| Louisiana: | Landrieu (D-LA), Nay | Vitter (R-LA), Yea |
| Maine: | Collins (R-ME), Nay | Snowe (R-ME), Nay |
| Maryland: | Mikulski (D-MD), Nay | Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay |
| Massachusetts: | Kennedy (D-MA), Nay | Kerry (D-MA), Nay |
| Michigan: | Levin (D-MI), Nay | Stabenow (D-MI), Nay |
| Minnesota: | Coleman (R-MN), Yea | Dayton (D-MN), Nay |
| Mississippi: | Cochran (R-MS), Yea | Lott (R-MS), Yea |
| Missouri: | Bond (R-MO), Yea | Talent (R-MO), Nay |
| Montana: | Baucus (D-MT), Nay | Burns (R-MT), Nay |
| Nebraska: | Hagel (R-NE), Yea | Nelson (D-NE), Nay |
| Nevada: | Ensign (R-NV), Yea | Reid (D-NV), Nay |
| New Hampshire: | Gregg (R-NH), Yea | Sununu (R-NH), Yea |
| New Jersey: | Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay | Menendez (D-NJ), Nay |
| New Mexico: | Bingaman (D-NM), Nay | Domenici (R-NM), Nay |
| New York: | Clinton (D-NY), Nay | Schumer (D-NY), Nay |
| North Carolina: | Burr (R-NC), Yea | Dole (R-NC), Yea |
| North Dakota: | Conrad (D-ND), Nay | Dorgan (D-ND), Nay |
| Ohio: | DeWine (R-OH), Yea | Voinovich (R-OH), Not Voting |
| Oklahoma: | Coburn (R-OK), Yea | Inhofe (R-OK), Yea |
| Oregon: | Smith (R-OR), Nay | Wyden (D-OR), Nay |
| Pennsylvania: | Santorum (R-PA), Yea | Specter (R-PA), Yea |
| Rhode Island: | Chafee (R-RI), Nay | Reed (D-RI), Nay |
| South Carolina: | DeMint (R-SC), Yea | Graham (R-SC), Yea |
| South Dakota: | Johnson (D-SD), Nay | Thune (R-SD), Yea |
| Tennessee: | Alexander (R-TN), Yea | Frist (R-TN), Yea |
| Texas: | Cornyn (R-TX), Yea | Hutchison (R-TX), Yea |
| Utah: | Bennett (R-UT), Yea | Hatch (R-UT), Yea |
| Vermont: | Jeffords (I-VT), Nay | Leahy (D-VT), Nay |
| Virginia: | Allen (R-VA), Yea | Warner (R-VA), Yea |
| Washington: | Cantwell (D-WA), Nay | Murray (D-WA), Nay |
| West Virginia: | Byrd (D-WV), Nay | Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay |
| Wisconsin: | Feingold (D-WI), Nay | Kohl (D-WI), Nay |
| Wyoming: | Enzi (R-WY), Yea | Thomas (R-WY), Yea |
Mark
My senators are Boxer (D-CA) and Feinstein (D-CA). How do you think they voted?
Are you going to bother to thank him, or spank him?
I'm going to call them and cuss 'em out.
This is just wrong ... It's ok if they don't agree with W's ideas for Social Security but now, not only does the so-called "Cooling Saucer" NOT provide alternatives for saving an integral part of the New Deal, they vote to GUT it. I say a pox on all their houses.
And as an aside from my above post, S.S. should have been reformed, but it we're going to keep it like it is, this irresponsible action is simply uncalled for.
I don't understand what the legislation is supposed to do.
The IOU's in the social security trust fund are Federal T-Bills, notes and bonds. That's all Social Security is allowed to invest in, so of course it's going to have IOU's in it.
Did the legislation require them just to sit on the money in Social Security and not invest it at all? Just let inflation eat away at it and not even draw interest?
Until someone explains what the bill was really supposed to do, I view this as just a publicity stunt and probably the 45 that voted against it are the worst kind of politicians.
looks like both of my little commies say one thing and do another.
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