Sanders: Obama Won't Put Social Security Cuts in Budget

For the second year in a row, the Obama administration will back off of its earlier proposal to reduce the annual growth in Social Security benefits in the annual budget, Senate Budget Committee ranking nember Bernie Sanders said Friday.

Sanders is working with the White House on Democratic priorities for a budget, which will largely be drafted by Republicans. He says the president has assured him the controversial Social Security proposal will not be in this year's White House budget.

The Social Security change, known as "chained CPI," infuriated the Left when Obama included it in his budget two years ago. Some economists say the change is a relatively benign move to align Social Security benefits with inflation, slowly reducing benefits and also accommodating more beneficiaries further into the future. But liberal Democrats say the idea isn't palatable, especially when the gap between rich and poor is larger than it has been since the Great Depression.

Sanders is an outspoken liberal who wants entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to expand rather than contract. His new role atop the Senate Budget Committee will give him a loud pulpit from which to send the message that Democrats are out to save the middle class. He said Democrats are preparing to aggressively promote their budget views on social media, specifically targeting veterans, seniors, and women.

Last year's Republican budget included "massive cuts" to Medicare, Medicaid, education, and affordable housing, Sanders said. If this year's budget follows the same pattern, "I will do everything I can to oppose that effort."