Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York joined a group of House Democrats and progressive organizations in a rally on Capitol Hill to urge the super committee not to recommend Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefit cuts, arguing that the nation’s $14.9 trillion debt is “not as big a crisis” as the 9.1 percent unemployment rate.
Watch:
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“The crisis is joblessness — the debt is not as big a crisis as jobless. We’ve got to direct our attention to the joblessness and to increasing the economy but if there are going to be cuts, not in the areas that people need it the most that low income people need it,” said Nadler Wednesday at the rally led by House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers of Michigan. (RELATED: Tea party lays out its top 10 federal government cuts)
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or super committee, formed by the Budget Control Act of 2011, is comprised of Democrats and Republicans from both chambers of Congress.
“Many of us will oppose any proposal that comes from the super committee that has any cuts in Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid,” said Nadler.
A USA Today analysis from June of this year revealed that Medicare and Social Security face $61.6 trillion in unfunded liabilities including $5.3 trillion in new obligations in 2010 alone.