In what can only be described as a Festivus Miracle, the House and Senate quickly adopted a two-month extension of the Payroll Tax Cut (along with several other important extenders like the Medicare “Doc Fix” and Emergency Unemployment Insurance) by unanimous consent. After weeks of acrimony, the bill passed both chambers in minutes (in fact, in an impressive feat of parliamentary procedure, the Senate acted first, and managed adopt the agreement to pass the bill before it even received it from the House).
The Payroll Tax funds Social Security benefits and the Social Security Trust Fund. Congress, of course, recognized this when it cut the Payroll Tax at President Obama’s urging last year. It therefore backfilled the Social Security Trust Fund by transferring money from the general fund to the Social Security Trust Fund. This assured that the solvency of the Social Security system was unaffected (positive or negative) by the Payroll Tax Holiday. In extending the tax cut for the next two months, Congress did the same thing, again backfilling the Social Security Trust Fund from the general fund. And so while nearly 160 million Americans will get a tax cut, seniors who rely on Social Security will not see the system compromised at all.
Unfortunately, some people continue to lie about this basic fact.
In Iowa today, Michelle Bachmann denounced Congress’s action. Bachmann claimed that “senior citizens are very upset, if you talk to them, because they recognize that they’re the ones who could end up at the short end of the stick” and that they are asking “why in the world would the politicians take money out of the Social Security trust fund?” Bachmann’s claims that the Payroll Tax Cut takes money out of the Social Security Trust Fund is not new—she has been making these false claims for weeks.
Of course, the fact that Michelle Bachmann should not be President is so self-evident that it might as well be included in the Declaration of Independence, but her statements suggest that she really is not even qualified to run. In the first place, Bachmann seems to view herself as an observer of the process, but she is in fact a central player. Because most Members had long since left town, the legislation had to pass by Unanimous Consent. As a Member of the House of Representatives, she could have come to the House Floor to object to the bill, and thus prevent its passage. Indeed, at least a couple of Republicans considered doing just this. Bachmann instead decided to stay on the campaign trail of her quixotic race for the Republican nomination for President, an election which she has absolutely no chance of winning. So for those Iowans looking for someone to stand up for their principles, they know not to vote for her.
Worse, however, is her continuing outright lie on the subject of the Social Security Trust Fund. While Bachmann’s statements could be chalked up to the absurd ravings of a fringe candidate, she is still treated by the press as a serious competitor—allowed to participate in debates, and as recently as Thursday appearing as a guest during the prime hours of the morning shows on NBC, CBS, and CNN. And no one is calling her out for what is either the worst case of policy incompetence or the biggest lie in presidential campaign history.
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