Reader sets the record straight

Last week, a letter to the editor regarding the Social Security COLA increase was written by Rhonda O’Hanley. I can sympathize with her frustration about the low increase of 1.3%. I too am a Social Security recipient.

There are however some statements made in that article that I feel need to be addressed. Ms. O’Hanley seem to feel that somehow the Democrats were responsible for the low COLA increase. In fact, the Social Security Administration (the people who decide on the COLA increase) is an independent federal agency. The current commissioner is Andrew Saul who is registered as a Republican.

In addition, it was two Congressional Democrats - Reps Peter DeFazo, D-Ore., and John Larsen, D-Conn, who, back in October, tried to get the COLA increased to 3%. Last I heard, their bill H.R.8598 was in the Hose Ways and Means Committee. My guess is that the bill will most likely pass in the House. The bigger question is whether it would pass in the Republican Senate. I would expect a vote sometime in 2021. Hopefully, if it passes, Social Security recipients would get back-pay. I would encourage people to write to their congressmen and congresswomen to let them know that they support bill H.R. 8598.

I would also like to address Ms. O’Hanley’s comment that “left-wing politicians are simply riff-raft (Sic), and we should execute dismissal of incompetent ‘swamp creatures’ running our government entities.” I would like to first point out (as stated above), that it is the Democrats who are trying to get the COLA increase raised to 3%. Secondly, I would also like to comment that this last bit of rhetoric by Ms. O’Hanley only serves to exacerbate the current climate of hate and disrespect. Even worse, it encourages acts of violence by others. It certainly doesn’t fit in with the current holiday season.

Reba W. Lindsay

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