Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20151028 : vimarsan

CSPAN Washington Journal October 28, 2015

On this deal. We get your views. Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. You can also send us a tweet, if you would like, cspanwj, or join the conversation at facebook. Com cspan, or send us an email, journal cspan. Org. Your thoughtst here in just a minute about your views on Social Security and medicare. In this twoyear budget deal that was announced on monday, there were changes to Social Security and medicare. Joining us on the phone is jonathan nicholson, a reporter with bloomberg bna. Lets begin with Social Security, the disability program. What changes did they propose in this deal . Guest the thing to remember is Social Security has not just one trust fund, it is actually two. The problem is that the Disability Insurance trust fund , not beed to run low able to pay full benefits with the amount of money coming in starting in 2016, so basically to forestall that, the proposal is kind of a twostep kind of thing. One is to reallocate some of the money that is going to the old age and Survivors Insurance fund havehree years and some of that go to prop up the Disability Insurance fund, which would keep it solvent until 2022, and the other is to make changes in some of the qualifications and antifraud provisions. So basically the idea would be to make to include medical experts for the states that do not currently include that when determining disability, but also number ofthe investigations that are going on for antifraud, to increase in penalties involved with fraud for insurance, and then also to for it less of a cash cliff people who currently receive workility when they get and earn more, so it is not a straight drop off but more of a gentle easing off of disability benefits as they returned to working on more money. What if this mean for future beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance . In about 20hose states that do not currently use medical experts and the determination process, it was been a change for them. According to the center on budget priorities, that has been going on for about 16 years as a pilot project. They will return to the same process that other states use. But generally speaking, this is seen as more of a nibbling around the edges in terms of reforms. Larger reforms have been bandied about for the Disability Insurance program in recent years. There has been really not that much pushback that one might expect, say, from democrats who are generally very protective of entitlement programs, including Social Security. They were seen coming out of the conference yesterday, not terribly concerned about the impact this would have on that program. Host jonathan, there are two trust funds with Social Security, so lets talk about the other one. Is that change dealt with at all in that twoyear budget deal . Best yes, some of that will distributed instead to prop up the Disability Insurance fund, old age and Survivors Insurance fund is considered to be the healthier of the two funds, so that would immediate impact. There is this issue of double counting in the sense of whether then drive down the solvency of that fund a little bit as well, but again, overall, the two programs are if you put the whole to trust ofds together, at least as last year, they were projected to be solvent until around 2033. Talk aboutets medicare. What does this deal say about medicare . Guest this is where it gets complex. [laughter] the bureau of labor statistics say there is little to no inflation last year, there is costofliving adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries. There are a lot of medicare recipients who have their medicare essentially taken out of their Social Security checks. That is not ase, problem. There is a small subset, though, of medicare recipients who would face a problem in that their premium would go up, basically 160. About 105 to would behind in medicare beneficiaries, newer ones, or ones whose premiums are paid by medicaid. That would make it must to difficult. The idea here would be and said it 105, 160, to make a , and what they would do it would be andlocating between funds, then in 2016, basically take a small degree of money, three dollars for some of those in the small group be effective, and have been sort of repay this loan, this kind of intergovernmental loan from one hand of the government through the other, basically, to smooth that out. Now, they have also prepared because we are living in such a relatively low inflation world peace days, there is also language in here to allow the to happen in 2017 as well if again the federal statisticians find that there is no significant inflation and therefore again no costofliving increase. Host all right, jonathan nicholson. When will this vote take place today . Guest probably around noon. I think the republicans would like to get it done as maybe the swansong for House Speaker john is slatedho of course to resign at the end of the week from both his seat as well as from speakership, and of course this would allow for a clean slate for paul ryan, who is expected to easily win the Party Nomination later today, and then tomorrow to be voted on the floor as the new House Speaker. Host real quickly, what is paul ryans stance on this budget deal . Has done his best to try to distance himself from this in part because some of the more hardcore conservative and libertarian members of the Republican Caucus a do not like the process by which this thing has gone up in terms of the way it was from a people basically monday morning, and here we are wednesday, you know, 80 billion over two years, and that they wanted more, deeper reforms to these programs to manage spending if they were going to bust the budget caps, which were agreed to in 2011. Host jonathan nicholson, blodgett reporter, bloomberg bna caret thank you. Lets get to your calls. Jonathan nicholson laying out this twoyear, 80 billion dollar budget deal. Overall, what do you think about Social Security and medicare, or changes when you recommend. Daniel in bloomington, indiana. Thank you for waiting perio. Caller you are welcome. I am actually still welcome due to the republican county and the circumstances, i think these are good, and they have done a lot of good for people, but these are manipulated just like every other o appropriation and federal government. Three medical experimentation, money, independent, you can let those issues and the heavy hearts that when you have reforms to these programs, lifting the burden off of the ghastly benefits off the next iteration claiming opportunities in the united thet, i really think United States, i really think it is significant with John Boehners legacy in the house. There, he is aup boss boss, and he really cares about the future of our people. You aniel, let me stop you think because republicans are saying, we take a look at the conservative Washington Times this morning, the conservativesscal are told the alternative is worse. So these changes and republicans are saying for the first time in 30 years the changes have been made to Social Security, disability, and insurance fund, that this is big, that they got this from democrats. Do you agree . Caller they compromise again, and that is why vader is on his ehner is on his way out. I would do something to the funding stream it is something when people retire, they do not just plug money into their homes. Given to that 401 k , their kids, they go on vacations, they plug that money into the economy. If we can make the 401 k a collaborative effort with the Social Security fund, with the interest rates, that gives our folks pretty much a buyback to retire at a rate, getting paid each month, if not higher. Host all right, dan, im going to a democrat. Fred is in cherry hill, new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Host you better and what is your view of Social Security and medicare . Caller i think there is a change that should be made. Host and that is the costofliving adjustment, for those that do not know. Caller right. And mainly to because the price of gas is down. Certainowed people at a point to stop driving, but there are a lot of other and this that keep going up other expenses that keep going up, especially medical expenses. His brother, who was a conservative senator from new york, who had a separate costofliving, so it takes into account medical expenses because they continue to go up, and Health Care Premiums continue to go up, and next year there will be no increase in many Social Security benefits. Host but you think it is a good thing that democrats were able to get from republicans a deal that makes sure that medicare premiums do not go up next year . They were looking at a 50 hike in medicare premiums. Caller mmmhmm. Yes, that is a good thing. People with policies that are meant to supplement medicare, those premiums are probably going to go up also, so people will be paying more for Health Care Without an increase in their Social Security benefit. Host all right, charlotte, prattville, alabama. You are on the air. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you this morning . Host doing just fine heard what are your thoughts on medicare and Social Security . Are i want to know they cutting it for the people who worked all these years, and then theyre making it now because the Poverty Level is so high . They have to have vehicles to go back and forth to the doctor. Did a credit Social Security for these people who have worked all their lives . Host what are you referring to . This budget deal . Yes, Social Security, and raising medicare on people host right, no, charlotte, the changes. Ude some fromwill take some funds the Retirement Trust fund to shore up this Disability Fund in the short term, and he said there is some concern with double counting, but you will learn more about this debate and the concern that some have come especially on the democratic side, that people have on Social Security and medicare. Listen in. Of course, we will be covering in here on cspan, and we learned from jonathan of that vote what happened around you today to her that vote is taking place at the this morning behind closed doors for their first vote on who should be the next speaker. So they will be listening, it will be a listening session where they are going to hear from paul ryan as well as Daniel Webster, the two candidates for speaker, and the actual vote will take days later today. Place later today. That is the set up for today. This morning, gop vote at 1 00 young, thursday, the full house, the vote on the floor at 9 00 a. M. East time. We will be leaving you early on youhington journal to show full gaveltogavel coverage. Lets hear from john next in lexington, tennessee, an independent. Good morning. Caller good morning. Yes, maam, i want to make a comment, during the reagan years, the Social Security Administration Fund was the only Solid Program that they had, and republicans and democrats all molested its own funds, and now we have a bunch of ious in there. Default is default. If you do not do your job, you cannot blame the 18 trillion debt on the American People. The glasssteagall act not being in thed, the ious Social Security system you cannot blame that on the American People. I believe if you put your 25 years, 30 years starting early pay Social Security, you should get full Social Security at city 5, 5070 years old and opened up the door for employment for other people. 55, 57 years old, and open up the door for employment for other people. Host how old are you . Caller i will be 54 in december. Host when are you planning to retire . Caller i do not plan to retire. I will just work till i fall over. Is impossible for me to think about i have had a gap in my employment here and there for reasons, and it is going to be impossible for me to think about i have got investments and things like that, but it would be impossible for me to ever retire. Host you are not thinking you will rely on Social Security . Caller no, no way. And what little bit would be there would not be very much for me for me to ever try to live off of. Host what have you done for a living over the years . Caller i am just a general laborer. I have got a high school education, but i got a lot of then a lotrades, and of jack of all trades. But i have made a fair living. But the way the economy that i have got right now, i am making the same money as 20 years ago, and you can see expenses, utilities, gas, insurance has all triple. Host john, youre not alone. When you look at this gallup poll on Social Security, when you retire, how much you asked that to reliance Social Security . A major source of income, a minor source of income, or not at all, 48 said a minor source, 14 said not a source at all. Lou, evansville, indiana, democrat. We are getting everyones thoughts on social and medicare. Welcome to the conversation. Go ahead. Caller hi. Good morning. At our state here in indiana, i got injured on the job, and i was hitting i got injured at 62, and now i am 63. I do not plan on getting hurt. I actually talked to my employer but i wanted to go ahead, semiretired, retired at 62, and work parttime, but of course it did not work out that way because i got hurt. For me to get on Social Security disability commodity, like, nine which i do not have a problem with that, and i have a son that is on Social Security disability, he was hit by a drunk driver about 10 years ago, and it sent me three years to get him on Social Security disability. I did not have an attorney or nothing. Host it took you three years to get him on it . Caller at the time, they did is onok at him disability. Now he is 25, and he is on it. Is, i crossed my ts, and there are people that try to abuse the system and liberally get money that they do not deserve. It is gone from people like my son and other folks that really deserve this stability. Yesterday wasring cutting our monthly income by 20 or Something Like that, so i guess they are not going to do that. Maybe that will be a good thing. Host there is a cuts that could have been coming because of the Disability Fund being insolvent by next year. Lou, what do you make of what republicans did here, these reforms, for eligibility, requiring that a medical doctor decide what is a disability and what is not . Some of the states, as we have learned, do not have a provision. Agree with it because when i was waiting to see the Social Security dr. , there were people literally walking in to see the Social Security physicians that you were assigned to an hour town, that would walk and for the most ridiculous uses. Excuses. As one lady walked in and said, well, i am overweight. Another, i cannot figure out what was wrong with her very few get characters that think these doctors are stupid, and they are not stupid. See nine doctors myself. It was not easy. And when my son got on disability, he had to go through the same rigmarole. He had to see a couple of doctors, i had to get pronounced the the hospitals, from procedures, emergency rooms, and all of that. So i agree with all of that because i did the right thing, and if you are honest and do the right thing, it will work out for you, but when you walk into the Social Security office and act like well, i do not feel like working anymore to get on disability, it is not right. Until,lanning on working like the other fella said a moment ago, intel i dropped over. And ied to work parttime worked at a nursing home, and i enjoyed taking care of those work 20nd i wanted to hours a week to keep working, but i do not plan on being in the situation i am in now. I agree that that needs to have tough standards. Host lou, i want others to listen to what steve sca lise, republican of indiana, majority whip in the house, here is what he had to say. [video clip] scalise when you fast forward today, it is a plan that not only denied the president implement some important reforms for our country, and some of the things that our conference has been fighting for for a long time. If you start with the Social Security reforms, congress has not passed the reform to Social Security Program Since Ronald Reagan was president. There is a reason it has taken over 30 years to get real reforms to a program that has real solvency problems. In the reforms in this program, especially as is related to disabi

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