Posted on 01/13/2015 12:02:31 PM PST by Din Maker
Democrats appear to have little recourse against a House of Representatives rule change that could prompt a steep cut to Social Security disability benefits next year, congressional aides said on Monday.
The new legislative rule, pushed through with little notice last week, would prohibit a routine transfer to the Social Security Disability Trust Fund, which is expected to be depleted by late 2016.
Without an injection from the main Social Security retirement fund, the disability program would have to cut benefits by some 20 percent, only paying out what it can collect from payroll taxes.
Congress approved the last such "reallocation" transfer in 1994 after several in the 1980s under President Ronald Reagan.
Republicans say they passed the rule change to force reforms to the disability program, which they claim is rife with fraud and mismanagement. Democrats, unable to stop the shift, have called it a "stealth" move to cut benefits.
On Monday, Senate Democrats issued a plea to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to oppose an "audacious" rule change that would "hold hostage" benefits for some 9 million disabled Americans
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yep
One of my good friends is on SS Disability. Drugs
Look at the increase in benefits since 2009 when Obama took over. Its a fraud and a scam. A bunch of lazy people who don’t want to work for a living are using SSI as Welfare and Obama is all for it. I hope they shut it down.
Let SSDI pay for itself with stealing form the other account to pay for it. Let them raise taxes to pay to keep it solvent.
But quietly diverting money into it from the retirement account is theft. If it’s such a great program then let us re-examine your case every year to determine if you are still eligible.
I have encountered more than a few flaming libtards on Facebook who are on disability. That claim they can’t work, but they have no trouble expressing lengthy (and often repulsive) opinions on FB. IMHO, if you can coherently communicate on the Internet, you can hold down a job of some kind.
When I point that out, I am attacked as mean and inconsiderate.
One guy was crying about how he only gets an $800 pittance per month from SSI. I asked him how much he also got from foodstamps, rental assistance, and other programs. His response was.....crickets.
Yes but you’re white and you don’t need SSDI /sarc
Agree.
I also know several women who have claimed disability for health issues, yet when they divorced, both had to return to the work force and did so without too much difficulty.
Just a big fraud.
It isn’t right to rob the main Social Security fund for this or anything else. We need to stop destroying the country with open borders, Disability has helped to hide the costs of this stupidity from the public, but obviously that is not sustainable if you have to steal from the main fund.
I recently signed up for Social Security (I just turned 66). I was surprised to see a whole waiting room with young to middle aged people in it. There were VERY few my age. I was later told it was people getting disability payments. They did not look very disabled to me either.
Best of luck to you, I’ve known a few people in your boat, but I’ve also known young strong well-educated people in and out of rehab who would be well served to not have so much time on their hands.
I know people who milk this program too. Makes me madder than heck.
But as a political move this is gonna blow-up in our faces just like a package from Acme Corp. going up on Wile E. Coyote.
The MSM will be filled with sob stories about elderly crippled people struggling with a 20% cut, just before election time.
In this country doing the right thing has become, nearly, politically unattainable.
I suspect the hope is that this new rule will encourage the SSA to adopt more stringent standards for disability evaluations, review existing claims and result in a 100% cut to those who shouldn’t be on the roles in the first place, and (if estimates of how may of those there are anything like accurate) no cut to thos who should.
Cue pelousies face on the cam in 3 2 1 crying republicans want to eat disabled people
Its an attack on Social Security to pass legislation to deplete the fund. I do think the elephant in the room is our swamped labor market, which leads people who are still capable of a useful contribution to being basically thrown away. We all know it.
I...DO...NOT...CARE.
Just two questions:
Are the standards reasonable and prudent?(IE, when they are made public, do they create outrage?)
Are they applied in a just and reasonable manner? (IE, are there lawyers advertising on daytime TV they can help you win your appeal? Are there judges known for approving appeals at the rate of 100%?)
“I personally know of young bucks who are strong and healthy but they get a Disability Check every month for “Bi-Polar”. “
Know the right words and get a sympathetic doctor and you are set for life. Also get free drugs to sell on the open market.
I can hear the MSM chant already
“Republicans don’t care about disabled people”
I am a cancer survivor by the grace of God. However, the chemo which saved my life left me with severe neuropathy in my hands, and I just could not work productively any more and was laid off. Since I was very close to retirement age at that time, I decided to applied for SSDI rather than go on unemployment and try to find another job which I probably could not do. It would be very difficult to take a 20% cut but I am hopeful that in time, sensation and strength will come back into my hands and feet and I will be able to go back to work part time, even though I am now retirement age. I find I am better off working than not working, and not just financially. I suppose I’m being hypocritical but I am annoyed by all the healthy young people with PTSD, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc., who are receiving SSDI. I really think they would be lot healthier if they were working.
ALL of them are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
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