Weekly SuperCongress talking points

[eridani]

Senator Bernie Sanders will introduce the Keeping Social Security Promises Act to eliminate the cap on FICA taxes as soom as Congress is back in session this fall Under Sanders' proposed legislation, Social Security benefits would be untouched. The system would be fully funded by making the wealthiest Americans pay the same payroll tax already assessed on those with incomes up to $106,800 a year. The idea follows through on a proposal that President Obama made when he was running for office in 2008.


http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=da460dc1-a6be-4ff9-8f92-4759c78f92be
http://sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Social%20Security%20Statment%20-%208-24-11.pdf

Action item

Tell the 12 SuperCongress committee members to sign on if they are in the Senate. Remind all of them that Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit, that Social Security is solvent until 1938 and that raising the FICA cap will keep Social Security solvent for 75 years.

Want to be on this weekly list? Drop a note to me at fomalhaut2003 {at} yahoo.com




Email, for obvious reasons, is restricted to constituents. Phones and faxes are not. For critical issues, consider adding faxes to your activist arsenal. Sometimes staff will ask your address when you call. If you are not in the district of the representative you call, explain that you are calling about his/her role in the SuperCongress, not as a member of the particular district.

A note on free faxes: they must be from a valid email address. When you send a fax, they send it first to your email address and give you a link to click on. Only clicking the link you got by email will send the fax. Limit 2 per day, no more than 3 pages. For $10/month you can send more faxes and more pages. If you want to ramp up your activities as an online activist, and can afford it, this would be a good investment.

http://faxzero.com/
http://www.gotfreefax.com/

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC)

2135 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

1225 Lady Street, Suite 200
Columbia, SC 29201
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Business & Technology Center
181 East Evans St., 314
Florence, SC 29506
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

176 Brooks Blvd.
Santee, SC 29142
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)

1226 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

1910 W Sunset Boulevard
Suite 810
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MA)

1707 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

51 Monroe St., Suite 507
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

6475 New Hampshire Ave., Ste C-201
Hyattsville, Maryland 20783
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Max Baucus (D-MT)

511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

222 N 32nd St Ste 100
Billings, MT 59101
[phone]

220 W Lamme Ste 1D
Bozeman, MT 59715
[phone]

27 N Wyoming St Ste A
Butte, MT 59701
[phone]

122 W Towne St
Glendive, MT 59330
[phone]

113 3rd St N
Great Falls, MT 59401
[phone]

30 W 14th St Ste 206
Helena, MT 59601
[phone]

8 3rd St E
Kalispell, MT 59901
[phone]

280 E Front St Ste 100
Missoula, MT 59802
[phone]

John Kerry (D-MA)
(no fax numbers)

218 Russell Bldg.
Second Floor
Washington D.C. 20510
[phone]

One Bowdoin Square
Tenth Floor
Boston, MA 02114
[phone]

222 Milliken Place
Suite 312
Fall River, MA 02721
[phone]

Springfield Federal Building
1550 Main Street
Suite 304
Springfield, MA 01103-1427
[phone]

Patty Murray (D-WA)

448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Toll Free: [phone]

2930 Wetmore Avenue, Ste. 903
Everett, Washington 98201
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

The Marshall House
1323 Officer's Row
Vancouver, Washington 98661
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

402 E. Yakima Ave, Suite 420
Yakima, Washington 98901
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Phone: [phone]
Toll Free: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

10 North Post Street, Suite 600
Spokane, Washington 99201
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

950 Pacific Avenue, Ste. 650
Tacoma, Washington 98402
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)

730 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

2200 East Camelback, Suite 120
Phoenix, Arizona 85016-3455
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

6840 North Oracle Road, Suite 150
Tucson, Arizona 85704
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Pat Toomey (R-PA)

502 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

United States Federal Building
17 South Park Row
Suite B-120
Erie, PA 16501
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

United States Federal Building
228 Walnut St.
Suite 1104
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Richland Square III, Suite 302
1397 Eisenhower Blvd
Johnstown, PA 15904
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

8 Penn Center
1628 John F. Kennedy Blvd.
Suite 1702
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

100 W. Station Square Dr.
Suite 225
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

538 Spruce Street
Suite 302
Scranton, PA 18503
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Rob Portman (R-OH)

338 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: [phone]

420 Madison Avenue
Room 1210
Toledo, OH 43604
Phone: [phone]

37 West Broad Street
Room 300
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: [phone]

1240 East 9th Street
Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Phone: [phone]

36 East 7th Street
Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: [phone]

Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)

129 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

810 East Corsicana Street, Suite C
Athens, TX 75751
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

6510 Abrams Road, Suite 243
Dallas, TX 75231
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Dave Camp (R-MI)

341 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: [phone]
Toll Free: 1-800-342-2455
Fax: [phone]

Traverse City Office:
121 East Front Street, Suite 202
Traverse City, Michigan 49684
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

135 Ashman Street
Midland, Michigan 48640
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Fred Upton (R-MI)

2183 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

157 South Kalamazoo Mall
Suite 180
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

800 Centre, Suite 106
800 Ship Street
St. Joseph, MI 49085
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[eridani]

1. Week three talking points

A common scare tactic with Social Security is saying “The trust fund is now paying out more than it takes in.” True, but this is SUPPOSED to happen! The point of the surplus was for Baby Boomers to prepay their own retirement in addition to funding their parents’ retirement. It is an outrage to triple the FICA tax for this purpose and then tell them that it will be taken away to support deficit busting tax cuts for the rich.

Attached find the complete list of phone and fax numbers for the SuperCongress, and a pdf of a two-up handout that you can use to spread the word about this project.

Feel free to add any related subject matter you wish to. Telling your own story? IF you write it up, don't waste the effort. Save it in a file and recycle it by submitting letters to the editor of your local paper. They may not print them all, but they do count them by topic.

Want to sign up for a weekly email from me? Send a PM.

For more information, check http://blog.buzzflash.com/hartmann/10015

Coincidentally, the actuaries at the Social Security Administration were beginning to get worried about the Baby Boomer generation, who would begin retiring in big numbers in fifty years or so. They were a "rabbit going through the python" bulge that would require a few trillion more dollars than Social Security could easily collect during the same 20 year or so period of their retirement. We needed, the actuaries said, to tax more heavily those very persons who would eventually retire, so instead of using current workers' money to pay for the Boomer's Social Security payments in 2020, the Boomers themselves would have pre-paid for their own retirement.

Reagan got Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Alan Greenspan together to form a commission on Social Security reform, along with a few other politicians and economists, and they recommend a near-doubling of the Social Security tax on the then-working Boomers. That tax created - for the first time in history - a giant savings account that Social Security could use to pay for the Boomers' retirement.

This was a huge change. Prior to this, Social Security had always paid for today's retirees with income from today's workers (it still is today). The Boomers were the first generation that would pay Social Security taxes both to fund current retirees and save up enough money to pay for their own retirement. And, after the Boomers were all retired and the savings account - called the "Social Security Trust Fund" - was all spent, the rabbit would have finished its journey through the python and Social Security could go back to a "pay as you go" taxing system.

[James48]

2. I think you meant to write

that Social Security is solvent until the year 2038, not 1938.

If we lift the earnings cap, and made no other changes, Social Security can be solvent till long after my child is collecting in his old age.

[eridani]

3. Yes, thanks. A bit of dyslexia now and then.

Thank Dog it doesn't hit all the time.

[eridani]

4. Week four talking points

Those who are determined to cut or end Social Security keep saying that they are really thinking of future generations. As it happens future generations are finding it hard to advance in their careers because so many baby boomers are hanging onto jobs they would gladly retire from if they were more certain that Social Security and Medicare were not in danger of being cut. Not to mention the plight of many over 55 who have been forced out of paid work and are spending their savings to survive until eligible for those programs. With 9% unemployment, the logic behind assuming that we need more seniors in the work force for longer is what, exactly?


Direct action is already starting! ADAPT taking on Hensarling and Camp (Supercongress appointees) in their DC offices. http://adaptold.adapt.org/adaptpr/archive.php?mode=A&id=313t

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-15/generation-x-stymied-by-baby-boomers-refusing-to-give-up-jobs.html

In Tiffany Spaulding’s 12 years in the pharmaceutical industry, she’s worked for three companies, two of which no longer exist, and relocated to four states.

Now 39 and living in Brookfield, Connecticut, she hasn’t had a promotion in five years and says she sees no chance to advance, stuck behind a wall of baby boomers. She would quit and turn her hobby of jewelry design into a business, she says, if not for the home and school loans that eat up half her salary.

Spaulding, according to a new report, is a typical member of the relatively small group called Generation X, 46 million Americans born between 1965 and 1978: They’re ambitious, squeezed by debt and frustrated by people who aren’t retiring on schedule. More than a third hope to leave their jobs in three years, a survey of more than 1,100 members of Generation X by the Center for Work-Life Policy found.

[eridani]

5. More info about the project

What we need to do is to make all of the SuperCongress members afraid of the public. To that end I am sending out talking points on a weekly basis for the benefit of people who would like to write or call more often but have trouble starting out. Write whatever you like once you get going. Can’t do it every week? Do it as often as you have the time for.

Don’t have enough cell phone minutes to call DC directly? Call the toll-free numbers and ask for the representative you have decided to talk to at 1-866-220-0044 or 1-877-702-0976. If you get challenged on whether or not you are the representative’s constituent, answer that you became one because of his/her appointment to the SuperCongress.

Once you have written something of your own, please get more use out of it. Save it on your computer or in a file folder, and recycle it as a letter to the editor, a blog or Facebook post, or an email or other communication to your non-SuperCongress representatives. They are the ones who will vote the final recommendations up or down..

Also, forward this information to those on your personal contact lists that you know might be interested.

Postcards

Snail mail adds extra impact when you do it in addition to calling or faxing. Postcards are not only cheaper, but since they don’t need to be opened, they make it through the inspection process instituted after the anthrax attacks much faster. You can either buy postcards from the post office, or make your own from cardstock by cutting an 8½ x 11 sheet into four equal parts of 5½ x 4¼.

If you want to print 4 separate copies of the same message before cutting the sheet, I find that using the text box function on your word processor is the easiest way to do this.

To save the trouble of writing out the names and addresses every time, a pdf file of a label sheet will also accompany this document. It prints 2 copies of each SuperCongressmember’s name and DC address onto a sheet with 30 labels. (Use the 6 blank labels for your own representatives or local newspaper.) Label size is 1” x 2 5/8”, on Avery 5160/8160 label sheets. Other brands will note the Avery equivalent.

When printing, don’t use the option of shrinking or expanding the document to fill available space, as this will move the addresses outside of the label boundaries. Just check “none” if your printer dialogue box gives you that option.

Video Don’t You Dare! Project

Do you do home videos for YouTube or know someone who does? Alex Stone of the Economic Opportunity Institute, inspired by the It Gets Better project on behalf of gay and lesbian youth, wants to collect your videos explaining why you don’t want Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security cut. He doesn’t have the resources to do videos of others, but he can collect anything anyone can make and put it on the EOI website.

Alex Stone
alex {at} eoionline.org
206-529-6360
www.eoionline.org

[eridani]

6. Week 5 talking points

Obama proposes $320 billion cuts in Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years. He did NOT suggest bulk pricing of drugs for Medicare Part D. In reality, Americans get fewer doctor visits and have shorter hospital stays than is the norm for the rest of the developed world, so “overutilization” is nonsense. It reflects a complete lack of understanding about how health care expenses are distributed. In every age demographic slice, 5% of the population accounts for 50% of health care costs for that age group, and 15% of the population accounts for 85% of costs. Tell thee SupercCongress that more cost sharing is a nasty and cruel attempt to deny care to the sickest people, who need it the most.

Obama Proposes $320 Billion in Medicare and Medicaid Cuts Over 10 Years
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/politics/medicare-and-medicaid-face-320-billion-in-cuts-over-10-years.html

Speaking in the Rose Garden on Monday, Mr. Obama said his plan — in the form of recommendations to a bipartisan Congressional committee on deficit reduction — “includes structural reforms to reduce the cost of health care in programs like Medicare and Medicaid.”

The proposal would require new beneficiaries to pay higher deductibles before Medicare coverage of doctors’ services and other outpatient care kicks in. The deductible, now $162 a year, is already adjusted for inflation. Mr. Obama would increase it further by $25 in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

In addition, the White House would increase Medicare premiums by about 30 percent for new beneficiaries who buy generous private insurance to help fill gaps in Medicare.

Many beneficiaries choose these private Medigap policies because they want the financial security they get from the extra insurance. But the White House said this protection “gives individuals less incentive to consider the costs of health care and thus raises Medicare costs.”

Patty Murray wants to hear from you about deficit reduction! (WA State only)
http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/deficit-reduction#friends

Dear Friends:Over the next few months, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will need to find a balanced approach to addressing our debt and deficit, growing our economy, and putting American’s back to work. As Co-Chair of this bipartisan commission, I am going to be working hard to bring members together around a bipartisan plan that works for families in Washington state. But I also I know that we have a difficult challenge in front of us and that we need to marshal every idea and resource we can to complete this difficult task. That’s why I want to hear from you.

Please use this form to submit your new, innovative, and most importantly – practical – approaches that could be implemented by the Joint Select Committee to help move our country in the right direction.

At this critical time for our country your involvement is important to ensuring that we can find common ground solutions that work for real families.

I look forward to hearing your ideas.

NOTE: This form is designed specifically for Washingtonians to submit serious ideas to help reduce the deficit. We reserve the right to dismiss any submissions containing obscene or inappropriate language.

Resource page on the SuperCongress from Progressive Democrats of America
http://www.pdamerica.org/site/page/4834/

[eridani]

7. Week 6 talking points

A note to fax users

Myfax is a pretty good deal. 200 pages for $10/ month, and there is a free trial. If you want to try it until the November 23rd deadline and then not sign up, you can use the service for free for a month. https://secure.myfax.com/

If you want to try it out, pm me for a text file that you can upload with 23 fax numbers, both DC and local, for SuperCongress members. Upload directly, or uses as a template for your own selections. I'm considering keeping this service as an activist tool.

WA State subcribers: petition to the Supercongress from state labor newsletter The Stand
http://act.aflcio.org/c/261/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2945

And the outrages just keep on coming

The SuperCongress is now going after Medigap plans, which are not provided by the government at all! The rationale is that extra insurance covering deductibles and copays that Medicare does not causes more use of services, therefore impacting Medicare. This is just pure BS. Compared to every other country in the world, we have far less utilization of doctor visits—and their health care on average costs half of what ours does. Remember last week’s note that it is the sickest that account for the most health care spending? People who are trying to protect themselves should they fall into that category will be punished heavily by these proposals—they will prevent necessary as well as supposedly “unnecessary” care. Tell them NO WAY!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/10/us-usa-debt-medicare-idUSTRE7990R420111010

Medicare supplemental health plans, popular among politically powerful retirees, could come under the budget knife being wielded by the special deficit-reduction panel of Congress, according to sources keeping close watch on its work.

The so-called "Medigap" insurance plans shield the elderly -- many living on fixed incomes -- from costly deductibles and other expenses not covered by the traditional fee-for-service Medicare healthcare program.

"This one is clearly on the table," said a lobbyist who has been following "super committee" deliberations on ways to trim federal budget deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

[woo me with science]

8. Strong K&R

[eridani]

9. Week 7 talking points

Sorry for the delay--been having DSL problems.

The SuperCongress is considering a chained CPI for Social Security. This is an outrage because Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. Point out that your tax return lists FICA separately, so it isn’t even part of the federal budget. The chained CPI for calculating cost of living increases is like compound interest in reverse—you get poorer over time instead of richer. A 65 year old woman getting $15,000 in benefits would get an inflation-adjusted $12,000 at age 95. Demand that COLAs be calculated using the CPI-E (elderly) designed to account for the fact that seniors spend less on food, housing and transportation and a lot more on health care.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/10/pentagon-looking-safe-super-committees-cuts/43974/
So if it's looking like the military will be spared, what is the Super Committee planning to cut instead? Krueger lays out some cuts with some awfully wide margins that add up to $1.2 trillion:

$300B revenue raisers (the likely framework would be a 3-1 spending to revenue ratio) … $216B interest savings … $134B-$300B in Medicare/Medicaid … $60-255B Chained CPI for inflation-adjusted programs … $200B relatively non-controversial spending cuts … $100B defense

Other activist options

Consumers Union petition to SuperCongress
https://secure.consumersunion.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2563&JServSessionIdr004=9exy39pxt3.app246a

Credo petition
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/mm_answers/?r=231434&id=28718-457718-YaHMiOx

EOI rap video
http://www.justscrapthecap.com/

[eridani]

10. Week 8 talking points

Good news! Some members of Congress are now taking issue with the very existence of the SuperCongress. Ask your representatives to cosponsor Maxine Waters’ new bill.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3201/show
H.R.3201 - To amend the Budget Control Act of 2011 to eliminate the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/164243/house-democrats-upset-supercommittee-negotiations

Representative Maxine Waters of California has introduced a bill to repeal the supercommittee, and the $1.2 trillion in cuts it’s mandated to make. She believes the committee is “illegitimate” and “borders on unconstitutional.”

At a breakfast meeting with progressive reporters and bloggers today, Waters said she knows her bill probably doesn’t have the support to pass right now, but she wants it on the table if the supercommittee deadlocks. “Of course its’s a long shot. But right now people are getting more and more agitated, frustrated and concerned about this supercommittee and not happy that there are those who are saying, including the president, they want even bigger cuts,” Waters said

Petitions

All kinds of organizations are stepping uo organizing against the Supercommittee--from my standpoint I wish they had started a lot earlier. Bether late than never, I suppose.

Bernie Sanders petition
https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/petition.aspx?X=Ja5OPsDYzMY=

Democracy for America--tell your Medicare story
http://democracyforamerica.com/activities/690-share-your-medicare-story?akid=1466.130047.GhgjLP&rd=1&t=1

NOW petition
http://action.now.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4967

Roots Action Petition
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4970

Health Care for America NOW letter tool.
http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/speakout/hands-off-99

Russ Feingold petition

http://www.progressivesunited.org/action/contact-the-super-committee-protect-medicare?utm_source=sp4178005&utm_medium=e&sc=sp4178005&refcode=sp4178005

[eridani]

11. Week 9 talking points

This is the week to give the Democrats on the committee holy hell. Ask them why anyone would support a party that turns its back on its proudest accomplishments. The Bush tax cuts are the number one cause of the deficit, ferchrissakes! Tell the Republicans that they care more about bankster parasites than the deficit anyway.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/super-committee-democrats-taxes_n_1088407.html

Under their latest proposal to the deficit reduction super committee, Democrats would agree to undertake comprehensive tax reform that included a pledge to avoid letting Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy expire. According to a private document, the authenticity of which was confirmed by a leadership aide, super committee Democrats are eyeing between $950 billion and $1 trillion in revenue raisers and tax hikes as part of a $2.3 trillion deficit reduction package. Between $300 billion and $350 billion of that would come from what one congressional aide described as "low-hanging fruit" -- ending tax incentives for corporate jet owners, closing loopholes for oil and gas companies, changing ethanol subsidies, and so on.


Is it about time for us to occupy our congressional representatives' office?

http://www.healthcare-now.org/seniors-rally-against-cuts-to-medicare/
Seniors Rally Against Cuts To Medicare,
47 Arrested
By Aricka Flowers for Progress Illinois –
Healthcare NOW!

More than 1,000 Chicago-area seniors and their allies took part in an act of civil disobedience today to push back against cuts to safety net programs, like Medicare and Social Security. The group rallied outside of the offices of U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D) and Mark Kirk (R) at Federal Plaza.

Seniors join Occupy Chicago rally to protest cuts

Video:
Several hundred senior citizens and advocates for social services rally to protest cuts to safety net programs at Federal Plaza Monday, Nov. 7, 2011. (E. Jason Wambsgans/ Chicago Tribune)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/65926361/News/Seniors-join-Occupy-Chicago-rally-to-protest-cuts

[eridani]

12. Week 10--last chance to bug the SuperCommittee

Week 10--last chance to bug the SuperCommittee

Last Supercongress update—two more days to give them hell. It looks like they may not reach agreement, but that does NOT mean that attacks on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are over with. I’ll periodically send you updates, but only if something really significant is up. Ring their phones off the hook!

A few more petitions

http://www.civic.moveon.org/rebuildpetition/scsocialsecurity/?id=32931-5613343-Q23jitx

Rebuild the Dream petition

This is why I created a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama, which says:

"I believe the Congressional Super Committee has failed and that Congress could learn from the proposals drafted by the 99% Super Committee. I want the 99% Deficit Proposal to be read aloud in both houses of Congress."

Will you sign this petition? Click here:
http://signon.org/sign/get-the-99-deficit-proposal?source=c.em.cp&r_by=1586630

Occupy Washington petition
http://october2011.org/petition/1843