$255 isn't a lot of money, but speaking from someone that lost his father at 10, it's
"something". My father had been in the Marine Corps for 18 years when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. After they had to perform surgery to remove my father's stomach, he was given 100% disability with service-connected status. When he died a year after surgery, my mother was a housewife who hadn't worked in years. That support from social security's survivor benefits wasn't a lot, but it was part of what helped us out until we got on our feet in the transition.
The idea that all of the familes of people who've died in Iraq would be affected by this, is something that makes it even more repugnant. Maybe that's why some of the Republicans on the Hill had this reaction...
Aides to Rep. Bill Thomas of California and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairmen with jurisdiction over Social Security, did not immediately return calls for comment.
The best quote about this budget I've read is from President Clinton's economic adviser
Gene Sperling, who said it was like...
...a man who leases three fully loaded Hummers, finds it stretches his family's budget to the breaking point, and decides his family has to start buying cheaper peanut butter.
In some ways it's a gift to Democrats. It puts Republicans fucking with Social Security back on the table this year as a talking point, after people revolted against them fucking with it last year. However, it's scary & sad to read a budget proposal like this...
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