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President Joe Biden speaks with governors about protecting access to reproductive health on July 1, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, welfare advocates called on the US Senate to block President Joe Biden’s little-known nomination of Andrew Biggs to serve on the independent and bipartisan Social Security Advisory Committee.
Social Security Work, a progressive advocacy group, is leading the charge against Biggs, highlighting his role in the George W. Bush administration’s failed 2005 attempt to privatize the New Deal program. At the time, Biggs was serving as Associate Director of Social Security for the Bush National Economic Council.
“Andrew Biggs has advocated cutting Social Security throughout his career. He has now been appointed to oversee Social Security,” Jobs tweeted on Tuesday.
The chairman of the group, who currently sits on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB), also shared a sample transcript of the conversation for those who want to contact their representatives about the Biggs.
“The Senate can and should block this terrible nomination,” the group wrote. “Please call your senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to vote against Andrew Biggs.”
The White House announced Biggs’ appointment to the SSAB in May, which went unnoticed at the time.
Last month, The Lever’s Matthew Cunningham-Cook drew attention to the presidential election by warning that “Washington may soon coordinate efforts to cut Social Security, which provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for 66 million Americans.” .
While Biden pledged on the campaign trail to support expanding Social Security, he had previously supported cuts to the program’s benefits. Biden was vice president when former President Barack Obama proposed a “big deal” to the Republican Party that would require welfare cuts.
Biggs has also long advocated cutting Social Security. As Cunningham-Cook wrote last month, “For years, Biggs has been an outspoken critic of Social Security expansion and workers’ right to a safe, secure retirement, unaffected by stock market volatility.”
“He considers the pension crisis a minor issue and does not blame the problems of the welfare system on “older Americans” until 2020,” he added. “While seats on bipartisan committees are traditionally distributed among Republicans, Biden could have chosen a moderate candidate – or even relied on precedent. to avoid the nomination process altogether. Former President Donald Trump has routinely refused to nominate Democrats for board and commission seats.”
Outrage is brewing over Biggs’ nomination to the SSAB, a group formed in 1994 to advise the president and Congress on welfare issues, while progressives demand an expansion of the program’s meager benefits.
Last month, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led the introduction of the Social Security Extension Act, which would remove the income ceiling for Social Security payroll taxes and increase the program’s annual benefit by $2,400.
“At a time when half of America’s older people have no retirement savings and millions of older people live in poverty, it’s not our job to cut Social Security,” Sanders said at the time. “Our job must be to expand Social Security so that every senior in America can retire with the dignity they deserve, and every disabled person can live with the security they need.”
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Post time: Aug-09-2022