Seems like a certain candidate in the Sunshine State got Sen. Jon Cornyn’s (R-TX) memo about dissing Democrats and President Obama for allegedly using Social Security scare tactics as leverage in the debt talks and is repeating it almost verbatim.
Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, who is running for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) next year, wasted no time in repeating the contents of the Cornyn memo almost verbatim Tuesday, criticizing President Obama for threatening to stop sending seniors their Social Security checks if the government defaults on its loans and has to stop paying for some government functions.
“President Obama’s threat yesterday to withhold Social Security payments if he doesn’t get his way on raising taxes is shameful. It’s a new low for Washington. And quite frankly, it’s beneath the office he holds,” said Hasner. “There are more than 3.7 million Floridians who depend on Social Security to make ends meet. They should not be used as pawns in the president’s political games. Republicans should do everything they can to prevent this president from risking Social Security and Medicare further through unsustainable spending.”
The debate over Social Security is particularly pivotal in Florida, where seniors can easily flex their collective political muscle and turn elections.
Cornyn, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, informed GOP candidates in the memo sent Tuesday night to steel themselves against “disingenuous attacks” from Democrats. He accused Obama of scaring seniors even though the Treasury Department would still have billions of dollars of revenue to pay the Social Security checks if the two sides can’t strike a deal before the Aug. 2 deadline.
“… Billions of dollars in revenue still comes into the government’s coffers each day - a fact even acknowledged by Treasure Secretary Geithner,” he wrote. “The Obama Administration would have more than needed to keep sending checks to Social Security recipients, or Medicare patients, or to our soldiers serving abroad. But as the President indicated last night, they may choose not to, in order to attempt to exert political pressure on Republicans to agree to Democrats’ tax hikes.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial campaign arm, outright dismissed Cornyn’s argument. If Republicans remain unwilling to compromise on issues like tax increases, and the U.S. defaults on its debt, Murray said Obama would be forced to make tough choices over which bills to pay and real people would be hurt as a result.
“Senate Republicans have put us in this position by walking away from every attempt at finding a long-term solution to our national debt,” Murray continued. “They continue to deny that their irresponsible actions will have real consequences for the American people. This is not about bumper sticker politics. This is about real people, who could be hurt if Republicans fail to act reasonably and responsibly.”
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.