I got a fundraising letter from Sen. Jeff Merkley. He was outraged that the Republicans were threatening Medicare and Social Security in the current budget/debt limit talks between the White House and Congress. Too bad I’m paying attention. I sent him the following response:
Sen. Merkley:
It’s not only Republicans that are threatening Medicare and Social Security. In fact, if the recent reports in the New York Times and Washington Post are accurate, it is President Obama who has put those programs in danger, using the pretext of the debt ceiling fight and the myth of “fixing the deficit” to put on the table, in spite of the dire need for those programs in the face of long-term unemployment, and despite the rather simple “fix” of allowing the Bush/Obama tax cuts to expire. Social Security doesn’t even impact the deficit; both Democratic and Republican leadership acknowledge that, and yet, and yet, they’re considering benefits cuts and raising the age of eligibility.
It’s your president that is doing that, it’s your leadership that is allowing it. You can pretend to outrage against your loyal opposition all you’d like but voters like myself will be paying attention when the issue finally comes to a vote. A single Senator can, in theory, stop any legislation with any number of procedural moves - a hold, a filibuster, or others. But will you, Sen. Merkley? Or is this part of the dance - leadership allows you to use this as a fundraising call, but when the time comes, you’ll allow leadership to get what they want, “for the good of the Democratic Party”, which is apparently changes to Medicare and Social Security that will cause millions of elderly, the ill, and the poor to suffer so that the rich can keep all the money?
