Proposal Would Increase Administrative Costs And Improper Payments
The Trump proposal would also increase SSIs administrative costs and improper payments. The number of family members receiving SSI can change from month to month. For example, the composition of a family can change due to birth, death, marriage, or divorce. Eligibility for SSI can change, too, especially for children SSA often discontinues childrens benefits after reviews because disability among children can be fluid, especially as treatments advance. If families dont report changes promptly or if SSA doesnt record their reports immediately due to chronic understaffing families will be over- or underpaid SSI benefits.
The Biden Campaigns Questionable Social Security Claims
The Biden camp justifies its claims about President Trumps proposed cuts to Social Security by pointing to the Trump administrations recent efforts to implement a payroll tax holiday as part of the ongoing efforts to blunt the economic impact of Covid-19. Payroll taxes help fund Social Security, but they are not synonymous with the program.
In August, the CARES Acts supplemental $600 weekly unemployment benefit ran out. Negotiations for a second stimulus package among the White House, the House Democrats and the Senate Republicans were going nowhere fast. In response to the deadlock in Congress, President Trump enacted a payroll tax holiday by executive order.
Ending the payroll tax has been something of a pet goal for President Trump, even though economists say it wont do much to alleviate the pain endured by laid-off workers.
At the end of the year, the assumption that I win, Im going to terminate the payroll tax, which is another thing that some of the great economists would like to see done, Trump said in mid-August. His political team tried to clarify and massage those comments later, saying Trump was referring to his executive order to defer payroll taxes.
At the end of August, the chief actuary at the Social Security Administration penned a letter saying that removing payroll taxes would cause funding for Social Security to run dry by the middle of 2023.
Trump With White House As Literal Backdrop Talks About Its History As Critics Say Hes Violating The Law
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Trump embedded references to the countrys past presidents, such as Lincoln, Grant and Eisenhower, and the work they did in the White House as he gives a speech from the Peoples House.
Gathered here at our beautiful and majestic White House known all over the world as the People’s House we cannot help but marvel at the miracle that is our Great American Story, Trump said. This has been the home of larger-than-life figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson who rallied Americans to bold visions of a bigger and brighter future. Within these walls lived tenacious generals like Presidents Grant and Eisenhower who led our soldiers in the cause of freedom.
Critics and ethics experts have routinely hammered the president for hosting a political convention that included the performance of official duties at the White House, which they say is a violation of federal law that prohibits government employees from participating in political activities.
White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, who gave a speech, was excoriated by a government watchdog for repeatedly violating the federal law called the Hatch Act by engaging in partisan politics. Ivanka Trump, a senior aide, also gave a speech at the White House, raising similar issues.
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Trump Outlines A Significant Social Security Cut In His 2020 Budget
This past Monday, March 11, President Trump unveiled his fiscal 2020 budget proposal for the federal government. As a reminder, fiscal years for the federal government end on Sept. 30 and begin on Oct. 1. Unveiling a budget months in advance of the actual implementation is supposed to allow Congress to make tweaks, as needed, to get a yearlong budget passed.
Trump’s 2020 budget featured a lot of talking points , a number of which came under harsh criticism by members of the Democratic Party.
In particular, political opponents of the president focused on a handful of proposed cuts to social programs, which go against Trump’s campaign promises in 2016 not to touch so-called entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
Contained within the president’s budget were calls for about $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years, which would be achieved by moving payouts to block grants an $845 billion reduction to Medicare spending over the next decade that targets a decrease in wasteful spending via lower prescription drug costs and — surprise — a roughly $26 billion decrease in Social Security spending over the next 10 years.
Bidens False Attacks On Trumps Social Security Plan
A Biden campaign TV ad falsely claims that a government analysis of President Donald Trumps planned cuts to Social Security shows that if Trump gets his way, Social Security benefits will run out in just three years from now.
The Social Security Administrations chief actuary analyzed hypothetical legislation that would eliminate the payroll tax that funds Social Security not a proposal from Trump. The president has said he wont cut benefits.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and others who oppose Trumps reelection have capitalized on confusing statements Trump made in August. He has said on multipleoccasions that, if reelected, he would look at ending or terminating the payroll tax.
But White House and Trump campaign officials have said the president actually wants to forgive a four-month payroll tax holiday he authorized via executive action last month. Trump himself has said: hen I win the election, Im going to completely and totally forgive all deferred payroll taxes without in any way, shape or form hurting Social Security. That money is going to come from the general fund.
Biden, though, has repeatedly claimed that Trump has a plan that would bankrupt,defund, or wipe out the Social Security program.
Advertising Analytics says the Biden campaign has spent over $1.3 million on the 30-second commercial, which has aired more than 5,500 times in swing states like Michigan and Arizona since Sept. 3.
What Has Trump Said?
What Does He Mean?
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What Has Trump Done To Tackle Social Security’s Cash Shortfall During His First Three Years In Office
So, what has Donald Trump done to improve Social Security while in office? With the president clearly averse to tackling the issue directly and potentially losing votes, Trump has instead focused his efforts on indirect solutions, the most notable of which is the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act .
When signed into law in December 2017, the TCJA represented the most sweeping tax overhaul in the U.S. in over three decades. It lowered the tax liability of most working Americans, while capping the marginal corporate income-tax rate at 21%, down from a peak of 35%. In essence, it was a tax cut designed to stimulate economic growth by encouraging businesses to innovative, hire, and expand, as well as encourage consumer spending.
How does this help Social Security, you ask? The program has three sources of funding: a 12.4% payroll tax on earned income, the interest income earned on its asset reserves, and the taxation of benefits. The former, the payroll tax on earned income of up to $137,700 , is the program’s workhorse. In 2018, it was responsible for $885 billion of the $1 trillion in revenue collected. The thinking here is that if tax cuts can bolster economic growth, workers should see an increase in wages and/or income, leading to more payroll tax being collected. This increase in payroll tax collected should put Social Security on better financial footing.
Image source: Getty Images.
Rnc Brags About Trump’s Record On Nyc’s Public Housing
The RNC featured a video focusing on the Trump administration’s funding for public housing with several people of color talking about the ways Mayor de Blasio has failed them and how the administration has stepped in to improve public housing projects.
One noteworthy thing here, following the convention’s theme of trying to appeal to Black voters, is the way that the feature used the interracial politics among Black and brown people. One woman proclaimed that “illegal immigrants” were being placed in public housing in front of Black Americans who had been on waiting lists for affordable housing for years.
However, according to the organization Justice for Immigrants, only refugees, victims of trafficking, and immigrants admitted for legal residence are eligible for public housing not undocumented immigrants. If anything, mixed-status housing is permitted, but it still requires at least one family member to be a citizen, or deemed an “eligible immigrant.”
Trump has also spoken throughout the summer about his tactics to remove low-income housing from suburbs, usually in tandem with his words blasting protests against racial injustice and inequality.
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Trump’s Budget Calls For A Big Change To Social Security’s Disability Program
While Trump’s budget proposal aims to curtail a number of perceived inefficiencies with the Social Security program, the bulk of the savings are expected to be realized from a single change to the Social Security Disability Insurance program.
As of January 2019, according to the Social Security Administration , 10.15 million people were receiving a Disability Insurance benefit payment each month, 8.52 million of whom were long-term disabled workers. Of course, proving a long-term disability to the SSA, assuming you have the required lifetime work credits to receive a disability benefit, isn’t a flip-of-the-switch process. Rather, the average time from application to approval can take around five months.
However, not all disability recipients file their claims with the SSA right away. Should you choose to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance long after you’ve actually become disabled, you may be able to receive retroactive benefits. These retroactive disability benefits would cover the time period from when you actually became disabled through when you applied for Social Security Disability benefits, with a maximum collectible period of 12 months.
It should be noted that the SSA will subtract the five-month waiting period from your filing, meaning you must apply for benefits 17 months or longer after the onset of your disability if you’re to receive the full 12 months of retroactive disability pay.
A Partial Or Permanent Elimination Of The Payroll Tax
The third and most recent example of President Trump’s call for Social Security benefit cuts involves his pursuit of a partial or permanent cut to the payroll tax. The 12.4% payroll tax on earned income was responsible for $944.5 billion of the $1.06 trillion that Social Security collected in 2019.
In an effort to combat the economic struggles tied to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Trump signed an executive order in mid-August that deferred payroll tax collection between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31. This deferral was designed to beef up workers’ paychecks for the remainder of 2020 but have those same workers repay what was deferred in 2021. Some states and businesses have chosen to opt out of the voluntary deferral program.
President Trump has also tossed around the idea of permanently eliminating the payroll tax, if reelected. This would allow workers to receive beefier paychecks but would remove the most critical source of Social Security’s funding. It should be pointed out that while Trump has mentioned the idea of eliminating the payroll tax on more than one occasion, no one else in his administration has taken the idea seriously, as it would leave a gaping hole in the Social Security program. Neither Democrats nor Republicans would be in favor of eliminating the payroll tax.
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Former President Trump Who’s Seeking Reelection To The Oval Office May Be Forced To Tackle Shortcomings With America’s Top Retirement Program
Not even one month ago, midterm elections came to a close in the United States. But as one election season ends, another begins, with prospective presidential candidates turning their eyes to the Oval Office in November 2024. One such candidate is former President Donald Trump.
Trump, the 45th president of the United States, who lost to Joe Biden in November 2020 election, announced his bid to be reelected to the nation’s highest office on Nov. 15. Although voters are a long way from deciding who the two primary candidates will be for the 2024 election, Trump’s previous victory in 2016, as well as his support base, gives him a good chance to win the Republican nomination.
Former President Trump signing paperwork. Image source: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.
Whoever wins the presidency in 2024 will be tasked with tackling what’s currently a $20.4 trillion cash deficit for America’s top retirement program, Social Security, through 2096. In other words, hard decisions will eventually need to be made.
The $64,000 question is: If Donald Trump is reelected, would Social Security benefit cuts be on the table?
Fact Check: Giuliani Mischaracterizes Legislative Efforts For Police Reform
Rudy Giuliani claimed in his RNC speech Thursday that, following George Floyds death, it seemed, for a few brief shining moments, Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct.
He added that it didnt move forward because this possibility was very dangerous to the left.
There is no evidence that Democrats and Republicans ever came anywhere close to reaching any kind of bipartisan deal on police reform after Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white police officer. And the pressure to not move forward on a bill came from the White House, not the progressive wing of the party.
On the contrary, the House, in which the Democratic Party holds the majority, passed a sweeping police reform bill in late June largely along party lines to address systemic racism and police brutality.
The legislation would ban all neck restraints, including chokeholds and the kind used on Floyd by a then-Minneapolis police officer, as well as no-knock warrants in drug cases, as was used in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.
Trump threatened to veto the measure if it passed the Republican-controlled Senate.
Senate Republicans had supported their own, narrower, bill, which wouldn’t ban chokeholds but would withhold federal funding from police departments that don’t stop using the potentially deadly technique.
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Nypd Union Boss Pat Lynch Underscores Trumps Law And Order Message
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Pat Lynch is the president of the Police Benevolent Association, a union with 50,000 active and retired NYPD officers. While it is unusual for him to speak at a political convention, he has been a bullhorn for law enforcement in New York City and around the country, particularly as officers violently clashed with protesters calling for defunding the police.
Lynch has been at loggerheads with the citys mayor, Bill de Blasio, and has generated controversy over the years, such as fiercely opposing the firing of the officer who killed Eric Garner.
His RNC speech was similar to Trumps rhetoric about Democratic-run cities.
Trump Overlooks Record Deportations Of Obama
President Trump ridiculed Joe Biden for spending his entire career opening borders. But the Obama-Biden administration is often criticized by its own allies for record deportations of immigrants.
During their administration, immigration from Mexico was virtually zero as more Mexicans and their children left the U.S. than migrated to the country.
There were spikes in migrations of unaccompanied children and families under President Obama and Biden, but apprehensions of people at the border a measure of migration levels used by the government rose in fiscal 2019 to its highest annual level in 12 years, according to the Pew Research Center.
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Trump Usually Includes New Material In Major Speeches Not Tonight
President Trump spoke for roughly 70 minutes on Thursday, one of the longest convention speeches in modern history.
But the speech contained almost nothing that Trump hasnt already said, falling back on lines one would expect to hear in any standard fair Trump stump speech or even a coronavirus briefing: the economy is doing great, Democrats are radicals, America is winning.
The speech didnt have one theme it was built around but rather contained an extensive and often repetitive review of Trumps actions in office and wide-ranging criticisms of Joe Biden. Trump’s address was roughly triple the length of Bidens convention speech.
The president is known to insert new material into his speeches on the trail. It just wasnt the case in one of the biggest speeches of his presidency.
Progressive Group Wrong Trump Didnt Cut Social Security Benefits By $3 Billion
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Trump proposed policies that would have cut aspects of the program, but none were adopted.
As part of a push to raise Social Security benefits, a group that works to elect progressives made a false attack on former President Donald Trump.
“Trump cut Social Security benefits by over $3 BILLION,” was the first line of a Facebook post by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC.
The Nov. 10 post, still widely shared in late December, linked to an online petition calling for raising Social Security benefits by $200 per month.
The post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.
Trump did not make any such cut to Social Security benefits.
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Trump Brags About Covid
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Trump spent a portion of his speech praising his response to the coronavirus, which has received scant mentions during the RNC this week while attempting to paint a rosy picture of it being a thing of the past.
He claimed his administration has pioneered treatments and America has among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country in the world. COVID-19 has killed tens of thousands of Americans from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Guam to the continental United States.
It has claimed the lives of more than 180,000 people in the U.S. since the end of February and has neared 6 million cases, according to an NBC News tally.
