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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #c00000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Why
we want to keep the pressure on Senator Durbin.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR><B>Subject:</B>
Durbin on SS and M cuts<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/20/democrats-social-security-cuts_n_4132087.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/20/democrats-social-security-cuts_n_4132087.html</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Durbin needs to change his language – and he knows
better!<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 3pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 12.0pt"
class=MsoNormal><B><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 24pt">Sen. Dick Durbin:
'Social Security Will be Broke in Twenty Years'<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></B></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Senator Dick
Durbin (D-IL), the Senate Majority Whip, repeats a cynical GOP lie about Social
Security on Fox News Sunday this morning. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">WALLACE:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> I'm going to
talk about Obamacare in a second, but you're not answering my question. Why does
taxes -- why do taxes have to be on the table? Why can't you just make a deal,
short-term spending for long-term entitlement reform -- which, Senator, you
support and President Obama supports. You have supported the idea of some
entitlement reform.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">DURBIN:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> That's right. I
do, and I'll tell you why -- <B>because Social Security is going to run out of
money in 20 years.</B> I want to fix it now, before we reach that cliff.
Medicare may run out of money in 10 years, let's fix it now. And that means
addressing the skyrocketing cost of health care. That's what Obamacare is
focused on, and yet, the Republicans want nothing to do with
it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">If we don't
focus on the health care and dealing with the entitlements, the baby boom
generation is going to blow away our future</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">. We don't want
to see that happen. We want to make sure that Social Security and Medicare are
solid. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Social Security
is not going to run out of money in twenty years. <A
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/08/21/abc-social-security-running-out-of-money/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">That's an out-and-out
falsehood.</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Social Security
is not running out of money. He is likely <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/data-bytes/social-security-bytes/recession-weak-economy-behind-revision-of-social-securitys-projected-shortfall-to-2033"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">referring</SPAN></A> to the projected date–2033–when the
Social Security system will have exhausted its multi-trillion dollar trust fund.
But if no changes are made to the program whatsoever, the program will pay out
75 percent of scheduled benefits until the year 2086.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">That is not at
all the same thing as "running out of money." And linking a program that needs
<A href="http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/social-security-faq#l"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">modest changes</SPAN></A> to remain fully funded over a
75-year window to a "clear and present danger" to the country is
misleading.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It's one thing
to have a debate built around the question of whether the United States will
become the next Greece. (There are plenty of people who would argue the
comparison is <A title=" Why the United States Is Not Greece"
href="http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2012/0112millersciacchitano.html"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">fundamentally off-base</SPAN></A>.) But it's even more
difficult to have that kind of discussion when the "facts" used to make that
comparison are misleading. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sen. Dick Durbin
has been supporting changing the paying out of Social Security benefits, tying
it to chained-CPI, which is <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/publications/reports/the-chained-cpi-a-painful-cut-in-social-security-benefits-and-a-stealth-tax-hike"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">essentially a cut in benefits to the elderly of this
country</SPAN></A> and will do nothing to help reform the program. Note that
Durbin does not bring up the far more sensible <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/04/17/should-social-security-taxes-affect-all-wages/a-wage-cap-not-a-cut-to-social-security-benefits-is-the-only-path-for-elderly-citizens"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">removal of the cap</SPAN></A>, which would end any issue of
funding for Social Security forever. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">President Obama
knows that the base is aghast at this proposal coming from a Democratic
president, but Senator Durbin is more than happy to help appease the Republican
hostage-takers by inflicting more hurt on the elderly, vets, the disabled and
the poor. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Senator Durbin,
please stop acting like a hack WSJ conservative and act like a politician that
was elected to look out for the middle class. Saying Social Security is going
broke in twenty years is only meant to frighten the people and Villagers into
believing a lie.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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class=MsoNormal><A
href="http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/sen-dick-durbin-social-security-will-be"><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue">http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/sen-dick-durbin-social-security-will-be</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Julie
Tippens</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Director of Strategic
Partnerships</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">National Committee to
Preserve Social Security and Medicare</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">202-216-8469</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A href="mailto:tippensj@ncpssm.org"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">tippensj@ncpssm.org</SPAN></A><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>