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‘We Won’t Stand for It’: Dems Rip Trump Official Considering Raising Social Security Age

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The Trump Social Security Administration Commissioner says raising the retirement eligibility age for Social Security recipients is being considered by the administration. Democratic lawmakers responded defiantly.

“I think everything’s being considered, will be, will be considered,” Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Fox Business on Friday when asked.

Bisignano insisted that the White House “is completely committed to protect and preserve” Social Security, but that “the generations that are coming in will probably have a difference set of rules than we had.”

Frank Bisignano is a former CEO of a U.S. multinational financial technology company, and appeared on a list of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, according to the AFL-CIO.

READ MORE: Grocery Price Surges Are Relative Says New Trump Fed Official

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed, “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare and I will not raise the retirement age by one day. Not for one day.”

Critics blasted the development.

“Republicans gave away trillions In tax cuts for the wealthy. Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it,” wrote U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“Trump’s cronies let the cat out of the bag. They’re ready to raise the retirement age. NOT ON MY WATCH! They want to cut your benefits and hand them over to Wall Street. We’re in a fight to save Social Security, and I’m not backing down. That’s a promise,” declared U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT).

Warren Gunnels, Minority Staff Director for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), wrote: “If Bernie’s Social Security bill was signed into law, Social Security would be solvent for the next 75 years, benefits would go up by $2,400 & the bottom 91% of Americans would not pay a penny more in taxes. Instead, Republicans want you to work until you drop dead.”

READ MORE: White House Links Kimmel’s Comments to ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ It Says ‘Drove’ Kirk’s Killer

Former Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich, added: “A worker making $50,000 a year contributes to Social Security on 100% of their income. A CEO making $20 million a year contributes to Social Security on less than 1% of their income. Instead of raising the retirement age, we should scrap the Social Security tax cap.”

The Social Security tax cap, the amount that is subject to the Social Security tax, is $176,100.

According to Data for Progress, a progressive policy and polling organization, more Americans support lowering the Social Security retirement age than raising it or keeping it the same.

READ MORE: ‘Massive Shift’: FCC Chair Says Local TV Will ‘Decide What the American People Think’

 

 

 

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Democrats’ Dissatisfaction With Democrats in Congress Has ‘Never Been Higher’: CNN Analyst

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The Democratic base is split on where they want the party to go — left, center, or stay put — but the majority can agree on their dissatisfaction with the party’s direction, says CNN analyst Harry Enten.

Fewer Democrats are currently satisfied with their party than they were after President Joe Biden’s debate performance that led to him dropping his reelection bid, Enten noted.

Democratic voters’ “pissedoffness” Enten added on social media, “has never been higher with their own party in Congress.”

“Okay, how upset are they in Congress?” he asked.

Noting that 46 percent currently are satisfied with the Democratic Party, Enten reiterated that the majority are dissatisfied.

Looking specifically at Democrats’ net approval of congressional Democrats, Enten explained that after the shutdown in October of last year, congressional Democrats had a net approval rating of plus 22 percent.

“Today, though, look at that,” he said, pointing to a net approval rating of minus 9 points.

“That is an over 30 point drop, at the climb, right into the ocean, right there,” he said.

“And I will note it had never been negative. Democrats had always had a positive net approval rating of their own party in Congress in every Congress before this one.”

“Congressional Democrats are underwater with their own party, and that’s why I think these primaries are going to be so interesting, because they’re going to tell us, okay, which way do Democrats want their party to go?”

He said the “big problem” is “Democrats aren’t sure what direction they want their party to go.”

Nearly three in ten (28 percent) want the party to move to the left, he said. Less than one in five (18 percent) want the party to not move at all. And nearly half — 47 percent — want the party to move to the center.

“This is a party divided, where they’re not actually giving a clear message of where they want their party to go,” he noted.

Offering a note of caution to lawmakers in primary races, Enten said that “if all of a sudden, Democrats are actually going to move to the left — which is not what their party wants — that will actually upset the rest of the electorate.”

Enten said the “only thing” that unites the Democratic base right now is “they are very upset with Donald Trump, and I think the candidates who are able to actually capture that, that’s the candidates who are going to advance to the general election.”

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‘Lingering Concerns’: Prominent Physician Wants Trump’s Doctor to Hold Press Conference

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A prominent physician is calling for President Donald Trump’s doctor to hold a press conference to answer questions over what he says are “lingering concerns” about the president’s health.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at The George Washington University, and a CNN medical analyst, says that Trump’s recent seven-day absence from public view only served to heighten concerns.

Last week, Trump — who is quickly approaching his 80th birthday — had his third annual checkup in 13 months, the fourth of his second term in office. He appeared in a televised Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, and then was not seen again until appearing in a podcast that was published Wednesday morning.

“I do physicals, because I just want, I think I have an obligation to do it, but I just came out with very, very good results, and I took a test, a cognitive test, and I got 100% on it. I got, as the expression goes, I aced it,” Trump said in the podcast.

“With lingering concerns following the president’s recent physical exam, and the president’s prolonged absence from the public eye, the White House should make available the president’s physician to answer questions from the press,” Dr. Reiner wrote.

Trump exacerbated those concerns when he appeared in the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast with what appeared to be a swollen right eye and his recurring swollen hand.

The White House Physician to the President, Captain Sean Barbabella, released notes from the president’s checkup that left many questions, critics say, including why the White House waited three days to release the memo.

Speaking about the delayed results, Dr. Reiner told CNN, “the only reason not to release a rosy report right away is that maybe it’s not so rosy, or this is some information you don’t want the public to hear.”

“I’ve read this report multiple times, and every time I read it, it actually seems to be thinner and thinner,” Reiner noted. “And I’m actually not sure what testing the president underwent last week.”

Reiner added that there were very few tests disclosed in Dr. Barbabella’s memo, “and what was confusing, to, you know, many of the physicians who reviewed these reports, is that it appeared that the president had underwent repeat testing, and I’m not sure that’s true.”

“But the president was at Walter Reed for three hours, so what actually was conducted there?” he asked.

He also noted that Barbabella’s report indicated the list of medications the president is taking “was shortened or abbreviated for readability and relevance.”

“I’m not sure what readability means,” Reiner added, “but every medication the president is taking is relevant, and they only released two cholesterol medicines and aspirin.”

 

Image via Reuters 

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Trump Resurfaces With a New Medical Malady He Can’t Hide

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President Donald Trump, who had not been seen in public for a week, appeared on a podcast with a new malady: an apparently swollen right eye — along with a recurring swollen hand.

“Trump’s right eye clearly showed puffiness and looked oddly misshapen compared to his left eye, while his right hand looked much bigger than his left,” The New Republic reported, noting the president “continues to dodge questions about his health.”

The interview with Pod Force One was taped on Tuesday, a week after Trump’s third medical checkup in 13 months, and the fourth of his second term. He told Miranda Devine, “I do physicals, because I just want, I think I have an obligation to do it, but I just came out with very, very good results, and I took a test, a cognitive test, and I got 100% on it. I got, as the expression goes, I aced it.”

He went on to say he has a “great memory.”

Trump, who’s quickly approaching his 80th birthday, is facing heightened scrutiny over the state of his health. The White House took several days to release doctor’s notes from his physical last week, adding to questions about his overall health.

The New Republic noted that “it’s very difficult to dispute what people can see with their own eyes, and the president’s outward physical appearance coupled with his tendency to fall asleep on camera don’t inspire confidence in his health.”

On Sunday, Axios reported that the White House physician’s health readout left “key blanks unfilled.”

The “memo from White House physician Sean Barbabella didn’t put to rest persistent questions about apparent bruising on Trump’s hands, swollen ankles and his alertness during some public events.” It “again attributed the bruising of his hands to frequent handshaking and aspirin therapy and noted ‘slight lower leg swelling’ it characterized as improved from last year.”

Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Axios, “I think it’s quite unusual for someone … who doesn’t have chronic problems that require more frequent monitoring to come in more often than every year.”

 

 

 

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