Aside from rushing to pass a veto bound Keystone XL bill, what else did our new Republican overlords do on their first day of the new session?
They unveiled a new rule that would create a funding problem for Social Security that doesn’t currently exist.
Buried in the new rules that the House Republican majority plans to adopt for the 114th Congress is a provision that could threaten Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries — a group of severely impaired and vulnerable Americans — with a sudden, one-fifth cut in their benefits by late 2016. The provision bars the House from replenishing the DI trust fund simply by shifting some payroll tax revenues from Social Security’s retirement trust fund.
Transferring funds from the retirement fund to the disability fund is a matter of routine, but GOP leadership feels it should no longer be a routine.
Meanwhile, two GOP representatives also introduced a 20-week abortion ban.
Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the same legislation that successfully passed the House last year.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — who introduced a companion 20-week abortion ban in the Senate last year that was stalled by Democratic leadership — has already indicated that he plans to re-introduce his own measure in the next few weeks, too.
Oil pipelines, Social Security and abortion.
So much for originality.