RetireSafe Slams Chained COLA as an Insidious Stealth Effort to Cheat Seniors and Cut Benefits!

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representing 400,000 senior citizen supporters across America, RetireSafe President Thair Phillips today slammed the continued discussion of using a chained CPI and a resulting "chained COLA" for Social Security and military retiree benefits. "It will chain seniors to poverty," Phillips said. "The chained CPI and the chained COLA cheats older Americans through an insidious process of understating inflation for them, thus making their benefits more inadequate to deal with inflation each year," he noted.

Phillips added, "Social Security beneficiaries and military retirees will fall further behind each and every year. These benefit cuts will compound, and the poorest and the oldest among us will suffer the most from this deceitful policy, should we allow it to be implemented," he emphasized.

Phillips once again called the Chained-COLA proposal nothing more than "Theft-by-Deception." "Changing the already flawed and under-stated CPI/COLA formula we now have, one that has short-changed our seniors for decades, to one that is designed only to cut spending by squeezing beneficiaries is criminal," Phillips continued. "Seniors and military retirees deserve a fair and accurate COLA like the one called for in the CPI for Seniors Act, H.R. 1086," he added.

"RetireSafe and a bipartisan group of House Members have long called for an accurate CPI that reflects the real costs for seniors; a CPI that produces a fair COLA that seniors can depend on to protect their benefits and their ability to deal with the rising inflation ahead," Phillips said. "To instead try to institute a chained CPI/COLA that will greatly harm our most vulnerable citizens is beyond belief and fully deserving of our collective scorn and opposition," he concluded.

About RetireSafe
RetireSafe is a grassroots organization that advocates and educates on behalf of America's seniors on issues regarding Social Security, Medicare, health and financial well-being. RetireSafe expects its government to keep its promises, protect our nation, and maintain the safety and personal freedoms of its citizens.

Media Contact: Thair Phillips, [email protected] (202) 628-5095

SOURCE RetireSafe