Republican Sen. Mike Crapo on Thursday blocked Sen. Bernie Sanders' attempt to pass legislation that would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year per recipient as the Trump administration and unelected billionaire Elon Musk move to eviscerate the Social Security Administration with large-scale firings.
After a brief floor speech decrying the prevalence of senior poverty in the richest nation on Earth, Sanders (I-Vt.) requested unanimous consent to pass the Social Security Expansion Act, legislation he introduced earlier Thursday alongside more than two dozen of his Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate.
Crapo (R-Idaho) objected to Sanders' unanimous consent request on behalf of the GOP and accused the Vermont senator of fearmongering about Republicans' legislative agenda.
Sanders accurately noted in his floor speech Thursday that Republicans are pushing for massive cuts to Medicaid and other programs in order to offset the cost of trillions of dollars in tax breaks that would primarily benefit the rich.
The progressive senator also condemned Republican proposals to cut or privatize Social Security, the nation's most effective anti-poverty program.
"Instead of cutting Social Security and giving tax breaks to billionaires," said Sanders, "Congress must expand Social Security so that every senior in America can retire with the dignity and the respect that he or she deserves."
Watch Sanders' full speech:
The Social Security Expansion Act, which is backed by dozens of advocacy groups and labor unions, would ensure the New Deal program's solvency over the next 75 years by subjecting all income above $250,000 to payroll taxes, which currently only apply up to $176,100 of annual income.
"Now I know in a world here in Washington, where the government is now run by billionaires, $2,400 doesn't seem like a whole lot of money," the senator said Thursday. "But if you're trying to get by on $15,000 a year, you can't afford to heat your house, can't afford to buy a prescription drug that you need, $2,400 is something that will help."
The new legislation comes a day after The American Prospectreported that the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, installed by President Donald Trump earlier this month, instructed managers to craft plans to terminate half of the already-understaffed agency's workforce, a move that advocates and lawmakers denounced as a "backdoor benefit cut."
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the lead House sponsor of the Social Security Expansion Act, said Thursday that "Trump and his unelected billionaire sidekick Elon Musk think they alone can decide if you get your Social Security check."
"They had better think again. That is stealing. Americans pay into the program with each paycheck. We must expand Social Security benefits, not cut them, and I have a bill to do just that," said Schakowsky. "The Social Security Expansion Act will protect the national treasure that is Social Security by extending the trust fund's solvency for 75 years and expanding benefits by $2,400 a year so that everyone in America can retire with the security and dignity they deserve after a lifetime of hard work."
