In a scathing response to President Donald Trump’s deal with to Congress on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) sharply criticized the president for repeating a broadly debunked declare that Social Safety checks are going towards deceased folks, calling it an “outrageous lie.”
Throughout his deal with, Trump mentioned that there are “stunning ranges” of “fraud” inside Social Safety, claiming that there are hundreds of thousands of Social Safety recipients aged between 100 and 360 years outdated — a very false assertion circulated by Trump and Elon Musk in latest weeks.
“By slashing all the fraud, waste and theft we will discover, we’ll defeat inflation, deliver down mortgage charges, decrease automotive funds and grocery costs, defend our seniors and put extra money within the pockets of American households,” Trump mentioned, ignoring the truth that his administration has quickly ushered in warnings of a “Trumpcession” just some weeks into his second time period.
Sanders referred to as out Trump’s lie in a speech delivered after Trump’s deal with, saying that it’s meant to pave the best way for cuts to Social Safety — which is the most effective anti-poverty program within the U.S., lifting tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals above the poverty line annually.
“Tonight, Trump claimed that hundreds of thousands of useless folks between the ages of 100 and 360 have been amassing Social Safety checks,” the senator mentioned. “That’s an outrageous lie meant to put the groundwork for cuts to Social Safety and dismantling probably the most profitable and well-liked authorities program in historical past.”
“Let’s be clear: Nicely over 99 % of Social Safety checks are going out to individuals who earned these checks — 70 million folks. No person who’s 150 years outdated or 200 years outdated or 300 years outdated is receiving Social Safety checks,” Sanders went on. “And on and on the lies go.”
Certainly, solely 0.3 percent of Social Security payments are improper, and often signify miscalculations or errors relating to beneficiaries’ relations. And but, Trump and Republicans are within the strategy of enacting sweeping cuts to this system that may have an effect on hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries.
The Social Safety Administration is eliminating thousands of jobs to align with the Trump administration’s and Elon Musk’s calls for to slash federal businesses. A former head of the company, Martin O’Malley, has mentioned that the cuts, in addition to Musk’s interruptions to crucial administrative providers, imply that the system will “collapse” and that checks might cease going out to recipients throughout the subsequent one to 3 months.
In the meantime, the Republican Research Committee — which represents the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans — has called for massive cuts to this system, which might intestine advantages for lots of of hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the nation. Republicans have additionally proposed cuts to Medicaid and different essential social applications of their newest funds proposal.
Sanders, as an alternative, has proposed increasing Social Safety. The senator introduced a bill final week that will enhance Social Safety advantages by $2,400 a yr and absolutely fund this system for the following 75 years. It will obtain this by “scrapping the cap” on the Social Safety payroll tax, which presently doesn’t apply to earnings earned above $168,000 — that means that these with increased incomes don’t pay into Social Safety in each paycheck. Folks with incomes of $1 million, as an illustration, stopped paying into Social Safety by March 2 this yr.
“No, we’re not going to chop Social Safety,” he mentioned. “Fairly the opposite. We should increase Social Safety advantages and lengthen its solvency for the following 75 years by scrapping the cap that permits a billionaire to pay the identical quantity into Social Safety as a truck driver. Too many — too lots of our seniors are hurting at this time to be chopping Social Safety. Over 20 % of seniors on this nation residing on $15,000 a yr or much less.”
Sanders additionally referred to as out Trump for quickly plunging the nation into oligarchy, standing in lockstep with Musk and different tech billionaires who contributed tens of hundreds of thousands to get Trump elected to intestine the federal government. He ended his speech with a name for the American folks to stand up and oppose Trump’s rule.
“Allow us to always remember. Actual change solely happens when odd folks arise towards oppression and injustice — and combat again,” he mentioned. “Sure, the oligarchs are enormously highly effective. They’ve limitless quantities of cash. They management our economic system. They personal a lot of the media. They’ve monumental affect over our political system. However, from the underside of my coronary heart, I’m satisfied that they are often crushed.”
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