{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-dont-let-republicans_slash-social-security-medicare", "Sanders: Dont Let Republicans Slash Social Security, Medicare", "2014-12-19", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sanders: Don\u2019t Let Republicans Slash Social Security, Medicare\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tFriday, December 19, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tBURLINGTON, Vt., Dec. 19 \u2013 U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who will step up in January to a new role as the Senate Budget Committee\u2019s ranking member,\u00a0 said today that he strongly disagreed with the House Republican Budget Committee agenda calling for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.\r\nSanders was responding to recent statements by U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the incoming House Budget Committee chairman, that he would pursue proposals to cut mandatory spending on programs such as Social Security and Medicare. \u00a0\r\n\u201cAt a time when poverty among seniors is increasing, and millions of elderly Americans lack sufficient income to buy the medicine or food they need, it would be a moral outrage for Congress to cut Social Security.\u00a0 In fact, instead of cutting Social Security benefits, we should be expanding them.\u201d Sanders said. \u00a0\u00a0\r\nSanders has proposed increasing benefits by lifting the cap on how much of a wage earner\u2019s income is subject to the payroll tax that funds Social Security. Under Sanders\u2019 plan, the wealthiest wage earners who make more than $250,000 a year would pay the same 6.2 percent share of their income into the retirement program as everyone else.\u00a0 The current cap for all beneficiaries is $117,000.\r\n\u201cI will also fight the Republican effort to end Medicare as we know it and convert it into a voucher program,\u201d Sanders said. The Ryan budget, which the incoming chairman praised, called for $129 billion in cuts to Medicare as part of $5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-dont-let-republicans_slash-social-security-medicare"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.288492862135172, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}