CBS's Schieffer Wrongly Claims Social Security Checks Can't Go Out Without Debt Resolution
On three occasions between July 22 and July 26, 2011, CBS's Bob Schieffer carried water for President Obama when he echoed the Democrat's inaccurate claim about Social Security: "Millions of Americans...may not get their next [Social Security] check if the debt ceiling crisis is not resolved." In reality, there is enough federal revenues and authorized expenditures to pay for the program [audio clips available here].
Schieffer gave a preview of the CBS Evening News nine minutes into the 8 am Eastern hour of the July 22, 2011 Early Show with his dire warning about Social Security:
SCHIEFFER: Every month, millions of Americans depend on Social Security to support their families and make ends meet. But now, they may not get their next check, if the debt ceiling crisis is not resolved.
[Video clips below the jump]
More than ten hours later, the CBS News anchor repeated his hype about the federal program as he introduced correspondent Michelle Miller's story, which was filled to the brim with potential sob stories if the false prediction came to be. Miller included a clip of the President's own:
SCHIEFFER: The late developments in Washington mean that a deal between Congress and the White House is now very much in doubt on the debt limit, and if the government does default, the people who rely on Social Security may end up being the first to get hurt. Here's Michelle Miller.
MILLER (voice-over): ...For 26 years, Mattie Jones worked as a nurse's assistance in south Florida....Now 69, Jones completely depends on her monthly Social Security check.
JONES: $955.
MILLER (off-camera): Every month?
JONES: Every month.
MILLER: And you live entirely off of that?
JONES: Yes.
MILLER (voice-over): Jones's next check and rent bill are both due August 3, the same day a debt ceiling deadlock could stop the Treasury from seconding out checks.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we haven't resolved this issue.
JONES: It's scary, you know? Because you don't know what's going to happen.
MILLER: Nearly 55 million people received Social Security benefits in June. That monthly check was the primary source of income for almost nine million recipients ages 65 and older. Many, like Mattie, also depend on government-funded services, like this meal plan at her local senior center. Now, her most important daily meal could be on the chopping block.
But seniors aren't the only ones at risk. More than four million beneficiaries are children like ten-year-old Anthony Hines....Anthony has autism. His mother, Claudia Pachon, is a single parent. She had to quit her full-time bank job and take part-time work, without benefits, to find time to care for her son....She gets $400 a month from Social Security to help make up the difference.
PACHON: For me, losing this $400 a month is a lot. I mean, I can't- it's not an option for me.
MILLER: Government money also covers the cost of Anthony's special needs school.
PACHON: Everyday, you got to struggle, and I just pray that everything is going to get better, not worse.
MILLER: On August 3, Pachon, Jones, and 27 million other Americans could find the system they paid into does not have the money to pay them back.
Fear mongering notwithstanding, there is actually enough money to pay the checks to those who depend on Social Security. On July 8, The Weekly Standard cited a study from the Bipartisan Study Center which "projects there will be $172 billion in federal revenues in August and $307 billion in authorized expenditures. That means there's enough money to pay for, say, interest on the debt ($29 billion), Social Security ($49.2 billion), Medicare and Medicaid ($50 billion), active duty troop pay ($2.9 billion), veterans affairs programs ($2.9 billion)."
As NewsBusters's Noel Sheppard noted, even left-wing hero Senator Bernie Sanders acknowledged on Ed Schultz's MSNBC show on July 13 that "you can figure out a way...[to] make sure that seniors and disabled vets get their checks....[W]e can pay Social Security."
Despite this, Schieffer took to the airwaves one more time at the beginning of the July 26 edition of CBS Evening News to trumpet that it was "one week and counting to August 2, the day the President says the government will run out of money and, among other things, will have to stop sending out Social Security checks."
- Matthew Balan's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Again....
Submitted by Spoker on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 7:29pm.
Again, this is not wrongful claim! This is another boldface intentional lie told to the American voters by the LSM in support of Barry and his minions. "A lie, is a lie, is a lie." as my grandmother used to say.
Adult Diaper wearin' Schieffer, this all we need to know...
Submitted by USMC8411 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:41pm.
CBS's Bob Schieffer on Sunday said the reason he didn't ask Attorney General Eric Holder about the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case on last week's "Face the Nation" was because he didn't know about it.
Chatting with Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources," Schieffer said, "This all really became a story when the whistleblower came out and testified that he'd had to leave the Justice Department and so on. And, frankly, had I known about that, I would have asked the question."
And as a reminder, Schieffer was mute when Holder said that he would not prosecute HIS people". Schieffer was not on vacation then. Just suffering CRS. Can't Remember Shi'ite. Unless it's a conservative.
FEAR MONGERING 101 Chapter 2
Submitted by OldJarhead77 on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 10:11am.
SCARE SENIORS... (Especially effective if you get an older broadcaster to do it)
Schieffer should be making a retraction soon ...
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 7:39pm.
You see ... the White House is very good at alerting the media whenever they make any "wrong" statements of fact.
I'm sure a representative will alert CBS and/or Schieffer of their error as soon as they become aware of it, if they haven't already.
*SARC*
Schieffer knows it's a
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 7:40pm.
Schieffer knows it's a lie...........and I'm sure that he get's a nice SS check every month himself. It's more blatent fear-mongering by the joint effort of the White House, the Dems, and the MSM............simple as that.
The Big Media, Big Government Complex
Submitted by Comrade Jim on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 7:40pm.
Is getting the scare mongering juggernaut into high gear. It is normal left wing strategy to gin up a crisis atmosphere and use it to scare people into giving up more of their liberty. Obama and the kleptocrats in his administration (who got us into this mess) will claim emergency powers to go around congress.
But poor Bob Schieffer is just a tiny almost unnoticeable part of the machine.
How can it matter?
Submitted by Mutantone on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 7:44pm.
How can it matter if the funding is there or not since social security has no money in the fund to begin with? How do you fund I.O.Us?
IOU's are funded...
Submitted by USMC8411 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:42pm.
By our children's children, and their children. Just what o'bama wants.
Social Security is Structured Debt, Constitutionally Protected
Submitted by Avitar on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:06pm.
Bob Schieffer speaking has always insulted the intelligence of Americans for forty years now.
In collecting money for Social Security and Medicare the Federal Government incurred a debt which is constitutionally protected under the 14tn Amendment. The entitlements like Medicaid authorized under the "promote the general welfare" clause are not debt and can be cut off.
Right now the rest of the Federal Government owes Social Security over two trillion dollars. Under the Constitution this has to be paid before the cooks and guards at the Whitehouse.
Of Course if we need to fire somebody community organizers have no authorization under the constitution the same as Czars. Dump them on the streets as a sign of good faith.
All Democrats lie
Submitted by 10ksnooker on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:13pm.
About everything. Very few have responsible jobs who are responsible for anything real.
Most are just lay in gutter watermelon seed suckers,
Bob Schieffer...
Submitted by C-townGiant on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:15pm.
Proof positive that Alzheimer's patients can contribute to society....albeit negatively.
Lies
Submitted by grammajane on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:15pm.
The lies coming from this has been, water carrying for Barry radical lib Scheifer should be fired and put out to pasture. Three little gammas in my building were in tears today worried about their SS checks. Why this type of news full of lies and fear is allowed to spew on tv is a huge problem and needs some sort of restriction before something very serious happens. It has been going on now for the past 10 years.
Wait a second...
Submitted by Simplicity101 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:22pm.
How can social security be in danger when it's supposedly completely self funded? Didn't the politicians tell us that we have a trust fund with everyone's money in it and we don't need to borrow that money? Remember, we didn't need to fix the system because they said it wasn't broken at all.
You mean they LIED to us?!?! I'm shocked!
Not.
Harry Reid...
Submitted by USMC8411 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:49pm.
Some senior (senior moment) Democrats are claiming that Social Security does not contribute "one penny" to the federal deficit. That’s not true. The fact is, the federal government had to borrow $37 billion last year to finance Social Security, and will need to borrow more this year. The red ink is projected to total well over half a trillion dollars in the coming decade.
It’s important to note that benefit payments are not in immediate danger. Under current law, scheduled benefits can be paid until about 2037, according to the most recent projections. But keeping those benefits flowing is already requiring the use of funds borrowed from the public. So we judge the claim that Social Security is not currently contributing to the deficit to be false.
Depends which side of the argument Harry Land Deal Reid wants to spin....
Social Security benefits have not had a COLA raise in 2 years, as the democrats have frozen the rates, yet they do not cry about "paying" for this "cut" do they?
It seems to me these scare tactics can be used to advantage...
Submitted by Prester John on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 8:45pm.
.....at least among the younger works among us.
How many of us have heard someone say, especially over the last couple of months, "I paid my money into Social Security and I want my benefit, and I want it now?" Now of course the Supreme Court has ruled twice that people are in fact NOT legally entitled to anything from Social Security, but most people don't know that.
Anyway, is this not the perfect argument for personalized Social Security accounts?
Why can't we say, "Mr and Mrs Worker, rather than putting Social Security deductions from your pay into a big pot of money that Congress can take to use for anything and everything other than your retirement, wouldn't you rather put your money into an account that actually has your name on it and that you can invest as you see fit? Wouldn't you rather have an account that will build up over a lifetime of work that the government can't get it's greedy paws on and have to support you during retirement and perhaps even leave to your children"?
Seems like an awfully powerful argument to me, especially with people (like my 24 year old) who have absolutely no expectation of ever receiving Social Security as it is currently structured and financed.
"Stupid people are ruining America"
Herman Cain 2012
How about we stop paying into it?
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:16pm.
If the government can't be trusted (and it obviously can't) to hold that money, why give them more? If they can't pay out why should anyone pay in?
the media
Submitted by jessieH on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:05pm.
The Media's lies seem to be getting more blatant, these days.
yep
Submitted by donabernathy on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:25pm.
now we know how Soviet Citizens felt when they watched Soviet TV and read PRAVDA......
I just can't stop laughing either
roflmao
Wait A Minute
Submitted by donabernathy on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:05pm.
Didn't ALGORE say that da Social Security Money was safe n a LOCK BOX....... why would da GUBrMINT need to borrow money to pay for benefits when da cash is snuggled safe in a cushy LOCK BOX........ was they Lie n THEN r is They Lie n NOW........HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
roflmao
Bob, which is it?
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:14pm.
Are you stupid, senile, or a liar? Not sure which is really the worst. There are bonds put aside to pay for Social Security, by law that money is there.
It is only a few days -
Submitted by Ashrak on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 9:18pm.
Boehner should not only call Soetoro's bluff but he should call the mainstream media's bluff too.
Wait them out John. Show some GUTS and put them in their lying place.
"In reality, there is enough
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 10:00pm.
"In reality, there is enough federal revenues and authorized expenditures to pay for the program"
Irrelevant. If His Greatest Majesty tells the Treasury Dept. not to pay, they will not pay.
Wait a minute here...
Submitted by c5then on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 7:17am.
Where is the Social Security trust fund that we are told by the democrats is perfectly OK until at least 2025???
Why would SS checks be affected by the debt limit? It's not as if we need to borrow money to pay them, we have hundreds of billions of dollars in the SS Trust Fund. Right?
/sarc
Why are none of the media bringing this contradiction up?
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
How can that be, Bob? All of our SS contributions are being kept
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 9:11am.
...in a safe place so the funds will be their when we retire, right?
Oh wait, I forgot.
Comrade Johnson (who was a really big Johnson) decided he needed that money to build a communist America more than those who had actually earned it.
Congress cleaned out those accounts a long time ago, and left us with a worthless IOU.
Yep, the lying criminal commie bastards stole all of our money, and I'm sure that at the time, you probably thought that was a really great idea, too.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
It's not the first time Bob Schieffer
Submitted by texasborngranny on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 5:17pm.
has lied and it certainly won't be the last.
Unfortunately, libbies all over the country are too ignorant to realize how much they've been lied to. Not to mention all the stuff the media hides from them.