IFPTE Calls Deficit Commission Report an 'Attack on Working Families'
Full Commission Vote to Occur Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform formally unveiled the recommendations that they claim will reduce our nation's escalating deficit. Included in the Commission's guidance are an increase to the Social Security retirement age along with reductions in benefits, increases in Medicare co-pays, cuts to Federal employee retirement, pay and benefits, and many other radical ideas directed at working families.
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) President, Gregory Junemann, provided the following comments in response to the report's recommendations:
"On the one hand this report calls for the continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest wage earners, while simultaneously advocating reductions to critically important programs like Social Security and Medicare. What we have here is a report full of 'Robin Hood in reverse' deficit reduction recommendations.
"IFPTE is not willing to compromise on any of these draconian ideas. Increasing the retirement age and decreasing Social Security benefits are non-starters. With underfunded defined pensions going belly-up and more and more American workers depending on the whims of the stock market for so-called retirement security, does it make sense to take a wrecking ball to the most effective retirement program in our nation's history? Recommendations to transfer health costs to our seniors by increasing Medicare payments, cuts to federal employee pay and retirement, doing away with the mortgage interest tax deduction, eliminating the deferred interest benefit on student loans...the list goes on and on. These are recommendations that will gut the few benefits left for working Americans.
"IFPTE rejects this attack on working families and calls on the Commission members, the Congress and the President to reject them. Instead I would encourage lawmakers to consider the far more progressive budget balancing alternatives laid out by the Economic Policy Institute‟s Investing in America’s Economy report."
The 18 Commission members will meet tomorrow, December 3rd, to vote on approving or disapproving the report. If 14 of the 18 members vote in support of the report it will advance to Congress for their consideration.
Economic Policy Institute's Investing in America’s Economy Report