A whole new slew of individuals and organizations have joined Paul Krugman, Sen. Bernie Sander, Rep. Peter DeFazio, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the National Council of Women's Organizations, National Organization of Women and Jack Conway in calling for Simpson to either resign or for President Obama to fire him from his position on the deficit commission.
- Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Lynn Woolsey, via e-mail:
"Former Senator Alan Simpson’s latest attack on Social Security demonstrates that he is too biased to serve as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which will likely recommend changes to the Social Security program....
"Simpson portrays Social Security as some sort of welfare for the elderly who don’t need or deserve it rather than a self-funded financial security program recipients paid into throughout their working lives.
"Social Security should not even be on the table in deficit-reduction talks because it has not contributed a dime to that deficit, which has been caused largely by endless wars, reckless tax cuts and the recession....
"But Simpson seems more intent on targeting Social Security and those who receive it.
"Simpson’s apology is not enough. He should resign."
- Alan Grayson, in an e-mail to supporters:
Deficit Commission Republican Co-Chair Alan Simpson just called Social Security a "milk cow with 310 million tits."
Simpson seems to know a lot about farm animals. Which isn’t surprising, because only a swine would use such words to describe a program that we rely on to pay for food, medicine, and rent. Simpson is known for calling Social Security recipients ‘greedy geezers’, even while living on a generous government pension.
Enough of this nonsense. Fire this guy. And stop the Commission’s goal of cutting Social Security.
- Senate candidate Elaine Marshall (D-NC):
"Alan Simpson's remarks were disrespectful to women and to Social Security recipients. He should resign or the president should fire him," Marshall said, speaking at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, according to her campaign.
"The fact that he thinks this way shows that he can't do his job with an open mind. We should be doing everything in our power to strengthen and protect Social Security, not attacking the recipients who depend on it."
- The Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara Easterling and Executive Director Edward F. Coyle "urged the president to demand Simpson’s resignation. They wrote that his remarks are:
conduct unbecoming a person named to co-chair a presidential panel. Moreover, it is the latest in a series of derisive and inappropriate comments Mr. Simpson has made about our nation’s seniors and the Social Security benefits they have earned and rely upon to make ends meet.
- The Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of 125 labor, progressive, women's rights and elderly groups.
"While I appreciate that Alan Simpson has apologized, he still must go," said Nancy Altman, co-chair of Strengthen Social Security. "This is not the first time that Alan Simpson has shown he neither understands nor appreciates Social Security. His disdain for Social Security and the hard working Americans who count on it make him unfit to be anywhere near discussions about its future. Social Security should have no part in deficit discussions and Alan Simpson should have no part in the deficit commission. Social Security is too important to leave in Mr. Simpson's hands or, for that matter, in the hands of budget cutters who fail to recognize that Social Security contributes not one penny to the deficit."
- MoveOn, in an e-mail to members:
It's time for Alan Simpson to resign.
When President Obama appointed former Sen. Simpson co-chair of the deficit commission, he said Sen. Simpson would lead the commission in building "a bipartisan consensus to put America on the path toward fiscal reform and responsibility."
But instead, Sen. Simpson has made clear, again and again, that he has contempt for people who rely on Social Security, and will use his position to rant at anyone who doesn't agree with his plans to cut benefits....
- CREDO:
The point of the commission was to have a bipartisan panel that could work through difficult areas and search for solutions to our problems in what President Obama called a "serious and thoughtful way." So it’s hard to think of a worse co-chair than someone like Alan Simpson, who once again demonstrated that he has neither the temperament nor the objectivity needed to delve into such an important issue.
- Campaign for America's Future:
Social Security has worked for 75 years and does not contribute one penny to the national debt. It has no business being part of the White House debt commission’s deliberations.
Yet debt commission co-chair Alan Simpson has used his position to repeat lie after lie about Social Security, clearly signaling his intention to support unnecessary benefit cuts that would undermine our nation’s retirement security.
Click here to tell the White House: Take Simpson Off The Commission. Take Social Security Off The Table.