BREAKING: Burr Heeds Call of Koch's, Votes to Confirm Supporter of Social Security Privitization

Press Release

Today, Senator Burr joined with his Senate Republicans colleagues to, once again, do the dirty work of the Koch Brothers and confirm Charles Blahous as one of two public trustees for Social Security. Public trustees to Social Security are critically important and are responsible for a range of duties, from reviewing the management of the program to reporting and recommending policies dealing with program finances to the Congress. Since beginning his work on the Social Security board of trustees, Blahous also began working as a senior fellow at a Koch-funded think tank where he has advocated for a range of extreme positions that would cut retiree benefits.

Statement from Cole Leiter, Ross Press Secretary:

"This is another classic example of Richard Burr representing everything that's wrong with politics these days -- he's putting big moneyed special interests ahead of our seniors and hardworking folks who have paid into Social Security and are counting on it for when they retire. North Carolina needs a change in Washington, and a Senator like Deborah Ross who they can trust to help make sure they have the retirement security they have earned."

Undermining Social Security is nothing new for Burr. Burr voted against protecting Social Security from cuts and privatization, and supported a budget that would likely make deep cuts to Social Security.

Background:

Burr has supported cutting and undermining Social Security:

· Burr Voted Against Protecting Social Security From Benefit Cuts Or Privatization. In March 2015, Burr voted against a: "Wyden, D-Ore., motion to waive the Budget Act with respect to the Enzi, R-Wyo., point of order against the Wyden amendment no. 471 for not being germane. The Wyden amendment would create a 60-vote point of order against any legislation that would reduce Social Security benefits, increase the retirement age for benefits or privatize Social Security." The motion was rejected 51-48. [CQ, 3/24/15, S.Amdt. 471 to S.Con.Res. 11, Vote 84, 3/24/15]

· Burr Voted For Republican Cut, Cap, And Balance Bill That Would Force Deep Cuts To Medicare And Social Security. In July 2011, Burr against a: "Reid, D-Nev., motion to table (kill) the Reid motion to proceed to the bill that would make an increase in the debt limit contingent upon the passage of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment. The bill also would set fiscal 2012 discretionary spending at $1.019 trillion and enforce statutory caps that limit spending as a percentage of gross domestic product in fiscal 2012 through 2021." The motion to table failed 51-46. [CQ, 7/22/11; H.R. 2560, Vote 116, 7/22/11]

CBPP: Cut, Cap And Balance Bill "Would Necessitate Deep Cuts" To Social Security And Medicare, "Big Cuts" To Social Security And Medicare Would Be "Inevitable." "The legislation would inexorably subject Social Security and Medicare to deep reductions. The measure does not cut Social Security or Medicare in 2012. And it does not subject them to automatic cuts if its global spending caps are missed. It is inconceivable, however, that policymakers would meet the bill's severe annual spending caps through automatic across-the-board cuts year after year; if they did, key government functions would be crippled. Policymakers would have little alternative but to institute deep cuts in specific programs. And as noted elsewhere in this statement, before the debt limit could be raised, Congress would have to approve a constitutional balanced budget amendment that essentially requires cuts even deeper than those in the Ryan budget. Reaching and maintaining a balanced budget in the decade ahead while barring any tax increases would necessitate deep cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. After all, by 2021, total expenditures for these three programs will be nearly 45 percent greater than expenditures for all other programs (except interest payments) combined. Big cuts in these programs would be inevitable." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/16/11]
CBPP: Cut, Cap, And Balance "One Of The Most Ideologically Extreme Pieces Of Major Budget Legislation To Come Before Congress In Years." "The "Cut, Cap, and Balance Act' that the House of Representatives will vote on next week stands out as one of the most ideologically extreme pieces of major budget legislation to come before Congress in years, if not decades. It would go a substantial way toward enshrining Grover Norquist's version of America into law." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/16/11]

Since his first confirmation, the Koch Brothers have been directly funding the work of Charles Blahous.

· Charles Blahous started working as a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center, a Koch-funded think tank housed at George Mason University, after his first Senate confirmation to the board of trustees. Since that time, Blahous uses this position to regularly advocate for the privatization of Social Security and other extreme positions that would cut retiree benefits. [Mercatus Center, 11/1/12; Mercatus Center, 4/10/12]

· Since the time of Blahous' original confirmation to the board of trustees in 2010, the special interest-funded Mercatus Center has received tens of millions of dollars in donations from the Koch Brothers.

o In 2013, Koch donations to the Mercatus Center and the Institute for Humane Studies totaled over $14 million. [Center for Public Integrity,10/30/2016]

· In 2012, the Charles Koch Foundation poured $8.49 million into George Mason University, which was largely earmarked for the Mercatus Center. This grant was by far the biggest "educational grant" of the year for the Kochs, as it was 20 times more funding than the second University on the list. [The Atlantic, 10/30/15; The Center for Public Integrity, 3/27/14]

o The Mercatus Center has been described an "anti-regulatory center funded largely by Koch Industries Inc.," by the Washington Post, and as "a lobbying group disguised as a disinterested academic program" by George Mason Faculty, where the center is housed. [Denver Post, 5/6/16]

· Blahous has a long and active history with other Koch-funded and policy-aligned institutions, including the Hudson Institute and the Hoover Institution. [Hudson Institute biography, accessed 6/6/2016]

The Koch Brothers network has a long history of threatening the Social Security program.

· The Koch Brothers began financing anti-Social Security efforts in the early 1980s, when the Koch-funded Cato Institute published articles and began advocating that people should not be required to participate in Social Security but instead be able to choose private accounts. [Salon, 5/10/14]

· According to documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald, Koch affiliates have produced 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books attacking and distorting social security's efficacy and mission. These documents were produced by Koch spokespeople, academic institutions, think tanks and elected officials. [Greenwald op-ed,6/22/2011]

· Last year, the president of the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity, Tim Philips, wrote an op-ed in Forbes attacking President Obama "for his "addiction" to protecting programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from massive cuts." This is the same organization that has committed to spend more than $100 million to support far right Republicans in midterm elections, many of which have an agenda to dismantle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. [Forbes, 5/28/14]

· In 2012, Americans for Prosperity launched an "education campaign" on private Social Security accounts [AFP press release,2/22/12]

Over the six years of Blahous' first term, the Koch Brothers got their money's worth in anti-Social Security propaganda.

· For the past six years, Blahous has published a series of articles falsely warning Americans that Social Security is in a crisis state in need of immediate reform.

o "Reform Entitlements -- or Go Bust," Washington Examiner, 2/24/14

o "The End of Social Security Self-Financing," Mercatus Center, 10/10/12

o "Is it Becoming Too Late to Fix Social Security's Finances?" E21, 8/31/12

o "Social Security: Chronicle of a Death Foretold?," Defining Ideas, Hoover Institution, 3/17/2011

o "Days of Reckoning," Hoover Institution, 1/12/11

Blahous failed to disclose in his Senate Finance Committee questionnaire that he has engaged in activities advocating for the defeat of federal legislation or the execution of federal policy.

· Blahous opposed a bipartisan agreement to extend the solvency of the Social Security disability trust fund [Mercatus blog, 3/19/2015]

· Blahous criticized proposals to expand Social Security ["Don't Worsen Social Security's Soaring Cost Problem," 12/23/13]

· Blahous advocated to slow growth in retiree benefits [Mercatus blog,1/31/13]

Blahous has been a lead conservative voice in the effort to dismantle Social Security.

· Blahous has been a central figure for Republicans in ongoing policy debates about Social Security for more than 15 years.

o From 2000 to 2001, Blahous led the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, a business coalition that pushed for the privatization of Social Security. [The White House Archive,5/24/16 (accessed)]

o Blahous served as executive director of President George W. Bush'sCommission to Strengthen Social Security that sought to privatize the program, which would result in benefit restrictions and reductions. [LA Times, 5/10/16]

o From 2001 to 2007, Blahous also served as a special assistant to the president for economic policy, helping to lead the Bush efforts on privatization.

Source