The Hill catches on to the Grand Bargain betrayal
by David Atkins
Looks like The Hill finally caught on to what we’ve been yelling about for months:
Major labor unions and dozens of liberal groups working to elect President Obama are worried he could “betray” them in the lame-duck session by agreeing to a deal to cut safety-net programs.
While Obama is relying on labor unions and other organizations on the left to turn out Democratic voters in battleground states, some of his allies have lingering concerns about whether he will stand by them if elected.
The liberal groups are planning to launch an aggressive campaign immediately after Election Day to pressure Obama and Senate Democrats not to endorse any deal that cuts Medicare and/or Social Security benefits.
They say Republicans are also being targeted, but acknowledge that Democrats are more likely to respond to the lobbying campaign.
The coalition has yet to be formally announced, so organizers are reluctant to speak publicly about the effort or disclose the full membership of the coalition.
It is expected to include the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, Campaign for America’s Future, members of the Strengthen Social Security coalition and dozens of other groups, according to sources familiar with the effort.
No kidding. Most on the left are putting all their energy into getting Democratic candidates elected, and assuming that will well and they can take a break for a while.
Some of us know better. Step 1? Defeat Mitt Romney. Step 2? Defeat the Grand Bargain (with unwitting Tea Party help.) It’s going to be a slog all the way through January.
What’s most depressing about all this to this 31-year-old blogger is that I’ll just be working to stop cuts to programs that might be there for me if I live to see 65 (or whatever age they may raise the cap to.) None of this even covers the prospect of discretionary spending cuts that would immediately affect the lives and prospects of those under 65. Discretionary spending needs to be almost doubled, not slashed.
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