Republicans Seek Pennsylvania Voters Personal Information As They Try To Review The 2020 Results
Pennsylvania Republicans moved on Wednesday to seek personal information on every voter in the state as part of a brewing partisan review of the 2020 election results, rubber-stamping more than a dozen subpoenas for drivers license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
The expansive request for personal information, directed at Pennsylvanias Department of State and approved in a vote by Republicans on a State Senate subcommittee, is the first major step of the election inquiry. The move adds Pennsylvania to a growing list of states that have embarked on partisan-led reviews of the 2020 election, including a widely criticized attempt to undermine the outcome in Arizonas largest county.
Democrats in the State Senate pledged to fight the subpoenas in court, saying at a news conference after the vote on Wednesday that the requests for identifiable personal information were an overreach, lacked authority and potentially violated federal laws protecting voter privacy.
Senate Democrats, going forward, intend to take legal action against this gross abuse of power by filing a lawsuit, challenging in the courts, and to ask the courts to declare the Senate Republicans actions in violation of separation of power, as well as declaring that they had no authority to issue these subpoenas, said State Senator Jay Costa, the minority leader.
The Department of State did not respond to requests for comment or issue a statement on the subpoenas.
transcript
Pennsylvania Republicans Subpoena Voter Social Security Numbers
Pennsylvania Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to subpoena vast troves of personal information on millions of voters, including partial Social Security numbers, as they engage with false conspiracies about the 2020 election.
The vote comes as Republicans across the country have pushed for so-called audits of last years election, saying they are a necessary response to doubts sowed by former president Donald Trump and Republicans themselves. The most significant of these efforts, so far, is an ongoing audit in Arizona funded and executed by Trump allies and conspiracy theorists with no end in sight.
But Pennsylvania appears to be taking a different approach than Arizona. Rather than requesting ballots and voting machines as Arizona did and as Trump supporters have been pushing for Pennsylvania Republicans are beginning their taxpayer-funded investigation by seeking voters personal information to, as the chair of the committee running the show said Wednesday, determine whether or not they exist.
What happens to that information and whether it is shared with as-yet-unnamed private vendors as part of an Arizona-style audit, is up to Republican committee chair Cris Dush and his legal team, he said during Wednesdays hearing.
This election was on the up and up, Santarsiero said. It was the most secure election in history.
Democrats Vs Republicans On Social Security
One large disagreement between parties on the issue of Social Security is how much of a forefront issue they believe Social Security is. A recent survey by Allianz Life showed that, when asked what they believe the most important economic issues facing America are, 65 percent of Democrats listed Social Security, while only 42 percent of Republicans did. In terms of contributing to the federal debt, more Republicans than Democrats named Social Security. Republicans also show a tendency to start preparing financially for retirement earlier in life than Democrats do. 79 percent of Republicans reported beginning to save before their 50s, with 69 percent of Democrats reporting beginning to save at the same time.
In recent budget negotiations, Republicans sought Social Security cuts as a means to reduce government spending. Instead, the Presidents proposal includes tax increases to cover the monetary gap. Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, stated that the Presidents refusal to seek these cuts a reaffirmation of what has become all too apparent: the president has no interest in doing anything, even modest, to address our looming debt crisis. The one and only idea the president has to offer is even more job-destroying tax hikes, and that non-starter wont do anything to save the entitlement programs that are critical to so many Americans. With three years left in office, it seems the president is already throwing in the towel.
Also Check: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid
Republican Views On Social Security
May 7, 2014 By RepublicanViews.org
The Republican Party gets a lot of criticism over the issue of Social Security. Many will state that Republicans are against Social Security as a whole. This is untrue. Republicans are against Social Security in the form that it currently exists. While Social Security does represent ideas, such as government spending and redistribution of wealth, which the Party is generally against, very few Republicans will argue that Social Security should be done away with. Instead, they believe in large reforms to the system. They believe that workers need to be given greater control over their own retirement investments. In light of lengthening lifespans, Republicans believe that Americans need greater freedom to arrange personal retirement investments as a supplement to Social Security. They believe young Americans especially should be given this opportunity, as many members of the younger generations do not believe in the effectiveness of the Social Security system, and their money should not have to go into a system they do not support and/or believe in when they have many other options available to them.
Trump Payroll Tax Deferment Is Like An Election Year Bribe
Claudine Schneider
Rita Schwenk, 71, holds up medication which she receives under the Medicare prescription drug benefit program in 2006 in Portland, Maine.
Now Republicans are coming after Social Security and Medicare with President Trumps signature on an executive order that slashes the funding for these two programs.
When I served as a Republican member of Congress, we helped thousands of constituents who had problems receiving their Social Security checks or trouble with Medicare reimbursements. I cant say how many times my constituents cried tears of joy when I was able to tell them their Social Security or Medicare reimbursement issues had been resolved.
These programs help Americans retire with some peace of mind for their financial security and health care protection. Social Security and Medicare are not benefits they are entitlements that working Americans have funded through decades of hard work by their own payroll tax deductions.
Now, with the stroke of a pen, Trump has deferred the payroll tax deduction so that workers can get bigger paychecks now before an election. But do not be fooled: Under Trumps plan, workers have to pay back this deferred tax. This could be an expensive surprise to many, many people on tax filing day next year.
Trump claims he wants to make this payroll tax deduction cut permanent.
Anything for a headline as an election year bribe.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
This election is all about trust.
Don’t Miss: What Caused Republicans To Gain Power In Congress In 1938?
What You Should Know About The Gop And Social Security
Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, some Americans would point their fingers specifically at Republicans in Congress. While they absolutely do take some of the blame, the inaction by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill makes them equally culpable in exacerbating Social Security’s problems.
When it comes to Republicans and Social Security, here are the four things you absolutely need to know.
Republicans Very Much Dislike The Current Cola Measurement
You should understand that the Republican Party doesn’t like the current inflationary tether, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers .
The biggest issue Republicans have with the CPI-W is that it doesn’t do a very good job of measuring the inflation that seniors are facing, thereby resulting in an inaccurate cost-of-living adjustment each year. That’s because, as the name implies, the CPI-W tracks the spending habits of urban and clerical workers, who in nearly all instances aren’t receiving a Social Security check. Essentially, seniors’ annual raise is tied to the spending habits of non-seniors, and that doesn’t sit well with anyone in Congress.
In particular, Republicans would like to replace the CPI-W with the Chained CPI. The Chained CPI takes into account the idea of substitution bias, which involves trading down from a pricier good or service to something less expensive if prices go up. For example, if the price of ground beef rises 40%, you might buy pork or chicken instead. The CPI-W does not take into account substitution bias.
Although substitution bias does take into account a real-life purchasing strategy of consumers, the consensus view among pundits is that it would result in lower annual COLAs more years than not, relative to the CPI-W.
Also Check: Donald Trump 1998 Republicans Are Stupid
California Residents Head To The Polls In Recall Election
Voters across California cast their ballots in a recall election to decide the political fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Democrats main challenge is from the Republican candidate Larry Elder.
The coronavirus pandemic helped propel the recall attempt of Gov. Gavin Newsom to the ballot in California, and on Tuesday, his handling of the pandemic was an overriding issue as about two-thirds of voters decided he should stay in office.
Across the nations most populous state, voters surveyed by New York Times reporters outside polling places cited Mr. Newsoms pandemic restrictions and support for vaccine mandates as key factors in whether they voted to oust or keep him. The recall served as a preview of next years midterm elections nationally, with voters sharply divided along partisan lines over issues such as masks, lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations.
In San Francisco, Jose Orbeta said he voted to keep Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, in office, calling the recall a waste of time.
Its a power grab by the G.O.P., said Mr. Orbeta, a 50-year-old employee of the Department of Public Health. He said Mr. Newsom had done a decent job leading California through the pandemic despite his lapse of judgment in dining at the French Laundry during the height of the outbreak.
We really dont like the situation in California, said Fenglan Liu, 53, who immigrated to the United States from mainland China 21 years ago and helped mobilize volunteers in the San Gabriel Valley.
Yes Republicans Want Big Time Cuts In Social Security
Over the last couple weeks, Dylan Scott has been out front on the House GOPs effort manufacture a Social Security funding crisis that would hit over the next two years. Theres more than one Social Security Trust Fund. Theres one that covers most retirees. Theres another that covers the disability part of the program. And over the years, Congress with little controversy has shifted funds back and forth between the two to maintain actuarial balance. So to date, the whole push has been rather technical and framed around bean counting. But earlier this month, most notably from Rand Paul, we heard the other prong in the attack come into play.
Speaking to Republican presidential primary voters in New Hampshire, Paul said that most Social Security disability recipients are in fact malingerers and scofflaws who have no business receiving benefits in the first place.
The thing is that all of these programs, theres always somebody whos deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody whos gaming the system. I tell people that if you look like me and you hop out of your truck, you shouldnt be getting a disability check. Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesnt get up a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts? Everyone over 40 has a back pain.
Read Also: How Many Democrats And Republicans In The Senate
Heres How The Gop Could Remove $174 A Month From Retirees Paychecks Without A Direct Cut
On Capitol Hill, both political parties have acknowledged that Social Security needs some TLC. Unfortunately, neither party is in the same ballpark as to how best to fix whats estimated to be a $13.9 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years.
What isnt in doubt, though, is that if Republicans were able to implement their two most prominent solutions, every beneficiary would see some form of reduction in their payout.
The GOP has long favored cost-cutting as the best means of reducing Social Securitys shortfall. The most commonly touted method of tackling this would be by gradually raising the full retirement age i.e., the age at which you become eligible for 100% of your monthly payout. Currently set to peak at age 67 in 2022 for those born in 1960 or later, Republicans would like to see this figure gradually increased to age 70. Such a move would require future generations of retirees to either wait longer to collect their full payout or to accept a steeper up-front reduction by claiming early. No matter their choice, lifetime benefits, and therefore program outlays, would be reduced.
But the thing about raising the full retirement age is that it takes a long time to work. Meanwhile, the other Republican proposal changing Social Securitys inflationary tether from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers to the Chained CPI could yield modestly faster savings.
The Third Rail: What To Do With Social Security
Softer Rhetoric on the Right; Liberals’ Seek “No Cuts” Pledge
August 16, 2010 — Painting Republicans as bogeymen who want to privatize sacred entitlement programs, Democrats have turned to Social Security to save them in the coming Midterm election.
“I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to stop those who want to gamble your social security on Wall Street,” President Obama said in his weekly video address on Saturday, the 75 anniversary of Social Security’s enactment.
Along with Medicare, Social Security remains a sacred cow in American politics and focusing on protecting them is probably good politics for Democrats as they head into the fall elections where Republicans are expected to make big gains.
But there is political peril in the issue for both parties, especially as the President’s bipartisan debt commission considers ways to fix Social Security before it is expected to run out of money in 2037. The commission is mulling several options to keep the entitlement program solvent, including cutting benefits, and raising the retirement age to 70.
Reading the writing on the wall and expecting the commission to recommend some entitlement cuts, a coalition of liberal groups announced a plan this week to confront members of both parties at town hall meetings and prod them to sign a pledge never to cut benefits.
“Social Security did not cause the federal deficit; its benefits should not be cut to reduce the deficit,” the group’s website says.
Don’t Miss: Senate Party Breakdown 2017
Filling Public Trustee Jobs For Medicare And Social Security Is A Step To Shoring Up The Programs
The trust funds that support Social Security and Medicare are expected to run out of money. Policy experts argue Congress needs to act quickly to avoid benefit cuts.
- Print icon
- Resize icon
Political parties dont seem to agree on much these days, but at least 100 members split among Democrats and Republicans do share one common belief Social Security is in dire need of help and they want Congress to do something about it.
The trust funds that support Social Securitys activities are expected to run out of money by 2035, and if that were to happen, beneficiaries would receive about 80% of what theyre owed. Medicare is in even more imminent danger the Medicare Hospital Insurance fund, which supports inpatient care, is expected to be exhausted in 2026.
The Bipartisan Policy Center and the National Academy of Social Insurance released a letter this month, with 100 signatures from both political parties, addressing this issue, and one way to go about fixing it.
In the letter, Republicans and Democrats call on Congress to act on pending nominations for the public trustee roles for the boards of Social Security and Medicare, which have been vacant since 2015. These roles are supposed to be filled by two people, one Democrat and one Republican, who will work with the boards of Social Security and Medicare to provide guidance for these programs from an independent, nongovernmental perspective.
See: This word describes Social Security but not everyone agrees
Where Do The Candidates And Parties Stand On Social Security
We can’t lose sight of the need to reform Social Security and make it financially sustainable.
getty
With the political conventions of both major parties scheduled in the next few weeks, its a good time to look at the positions the presidential candidates and political parties hold on Social Security. Its also a particularly opportune time, since August 14th;is Social Securitys 85th;birthday: The Social Security Act was passed on this day in 1935.;
So, lets look at how our leaders propose to improve this essential program.
Social Security is a valuable program for millions of Americans
It almost doesnt need to be said, but its important to point out that Social Security is essential to the financial security of most older Americans and their families. According to the Social Security Fact Sheet, in 2020, 65 million Americans will receive more than one trillion dollars in Social Security benefits. For most of the elderly in this country, Social Security is their major source of income.
Social Security benefits are also the main reason that poverty among the elderly has fallen significantly in the 85 years since the program began. Its certainly the main reason that the poverty rate for the elderly is lower than the rate for other age groups.
Positions held by Joe Biden and the Democrats
Positions held by Donald Trump and the Republicans
The bottom line
Read Also: Trump Republican Or Democrat
Fact Checking The Fact Checkers: Trump Does Indeed Plan To Destroy Social Security
Donald TrumpOhio Republican who voted to impeach Trump says he won’t seek reelectionYoungkin breaks with Trump on whether Democrats will cheat in the Virginia governor’s raceTrump endorses challenger in Michigan AG race MOREs nonstop lies, together with his endless cries of fake news and hoax, make the role of media fact checkers more important than ever. Unfortunately, on the crucial issue of Social Security, too many of them are furiously defending Trump from his own words.
Instead of acting as a check on Trumps lies, they act like bullied children seeking to appease. They provide him cover, grade him on a curve, and give him every benefit of the doubt while denying that same leniency to Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump endorses challenger in Michigan AG race On The Money: Democrats get to the hard partHealth Care GOP attorneys general warn of legal battle over Biden’s vaccine mandateMORE and others. This is an extreme disservice in the lead-up to the election, muddying the debate over an issue about which voters care deeply.
Those who follow the issue closely know that Trump is deeply hostile to Social Security. The hostility is clear from his statements before running for president and his actions once in office. Trumps recent declaration that, if reelected, he will permanently terminate the payroll contributions which fund Social Security is consistent with many past Trump statements.
Nancy Altman is president of Social Security Works.
