GA-Sen A: Perdue (R) Proposes Cuts To Social Security & Medicare As His Big Re-Election Pitch
Kudos to Josh Israel at The American Independent for catching this:
In an interview with a local radio network, Perdue seemed to suggest that cutting funding to the popular entitlement programs — which provide health insurance and benefits to American seniors — would help reduce the national debt.
“This is the huge one,” Perdue said in the interview. “This is what I hope to get at in my second term. That is, Social Security and Medicare — the things that you've already alluded to — are what's causing the huge run-up.”
Perdue added: “The thing that is not under control are mandatory expenses. This is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, pensions and benefits for federal employees, and the interest on the debt. And if we don't get at those things, we will have a runaway debt crisis.”
The Georgia Democratic Party has a pretty good summary on Perdue’s record on this:
Time and time again, Senator Perdue has led the charge against Georgians’ Social Security and Medicare benefits. Even while a number of his fellow Republicans broke with President Trump over his payroll tax plan, Senator David Perdue enabled Trump’s call to make permanent cuts to a key Social Security funding source, even as Georgians were losing their jobs and health care amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now, President Trump’s plan to eliminate the payroll tax could permanently deplete the Social Security trust fund within three years.
Perdue previously said earned benefits like Social Security and Medicare are “the problem” and blamed vital programs like these for “causing this debt.” Just last year, Senator Perdue renewed his push for Congress to overhaul its government funding process, introducing a bill he hoped would be “the first step toward tackling Social Security [and] Medicare.” Perdue was even caught saying critical earned benefits programs like Social Security and Medicare have “failed…working men and women.”
“Senator Perdue should be working to deliver relief for the thousands of Georgians who have lost their jobs and health care coverage during this pandemic, but instead he’s scheming about how to cut hard-earned benefits should he get reelected.” said Braxton Brewington, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “When Perdue enthusiastically supports a deficit-exploding tax break for his corporate backers, but says we can’t afford to fund hard-earned benefits for Georgia seniors, it’s clear he’s only fighting for his special interest donors, not Georgia families.”
This certainly gives Jon Ossoff (D. GA) another issue to hit Perdue on. He launched a new ad today continuing to highlight health care:
In a tight race against U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Democrat Jon Ossoff turned again to his closest ally to make his case for election: His wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, who has recently recovered from a bout with the coronavirus.
Kramer, an obstetrician, touted her husband’s pledge to expand healthcare access and ensure that voters “don’t have to worry about losing their health insurance because they have a pre-existing condition.”
“Being a doctor is a gift,” she said in the 30-second spot released Thursday. “But there are many days when health care workers come home and have to cry because it can be really painful to see what our patients have to go through struggling to afford their health care.”
Also, Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock (D. GA) picked up a huge endorsement today:
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Thursday endorsed Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff for U.S. Senate, becoming the latest major state Democratic figure to back Warnock in his crowded race.Bottoms said in a statement that Ossoff and Warnock — who are running for different Senate seats — are the leaders Atlantans need.“Together they are our future,” Bottoms said. “As communities across Georgia navigate intersecting threats to public health, equal justice under the law, corruption and the influence of dark money in politics, and the future of our planet, this moment demands that we elect leaders like Warnock and Ossoff who will take on these challenges and build a better future for our children.”
By the way, The New York Times has a great piece on Warnock winning the support of W.N.B.A. players:
The players began vetting Loeffler’s political opponents in the upcoming election, looking for a way to insert themselves into a race that could end up altering the balance of congressional power. They homed in on one candidate: The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat and a pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was co-pastor.
Once Warnock addressed the players over Zoom, there was no doubt. “It was clear to us immediately,” Bird told me. “He stands for everything that we stand for. You could literally go down the line of all the things we care about, and we were aligned with him. It was like, ‘Wow, we want this guy in the Senate. This is the candidate that we want in the Senate.’ ”
Within days, nearly everyone in the league began showing up for their nationally televised games wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with two words: Vote Warnock.
And over in the presidential election in Georgia:
Although voters in rural Georgia typically vote Republican, the presidential election in Georgia will be determined in Atlanta and the suburbs, said Eric Tanenblatt, a veteran Republican operative and fundraiser in Georgia.
“The demographics in the state are changing and have been changing. … If the Democrats continue to make gains in suburban Atlanta, that really matters,” he said. “If the president can’t carry Georgia, I think he’s got some real problems.”A Data for Progress poll puts Biden and Trump at 46% each in Georgia with 8 percent of people undecided. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll showed Trump leading slightly at 47.3% and Biden at 47% with 4.4% undecided. Biden was leading at 50% to Trump’s 47% in a Quinnipiac University poll, and a Monmouth University poll had Trump up 47-to-46% in Georgia, according to Politico.
Click here to sign up to be a poll worker in Georgia.
Let’s keep up the momentum to flip Georgia Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Warnock, Ossoff, Biden and their fellow Georgia Democrats campaigns:
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