By at least one estimate, the political campaign behind Bush’s drive to undermine Social Security is going to cost about $40 million, not including the money spent by those who oppose the scheme. On the other hand, Bush’s gang has figured out a way to cut campaign costs — misuse government resources.
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) called on Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart today to stop playing political messages to callers placed on hold in the Social Security’s telephone system. As President Bush begins to sell his Social Security privatization plan with claims of a looming Social Security “crisis,” the Social Security Administration is forcing callers to their 800 number to listen to inaccurate propaganda with a “crisis” spin such as:
“Did you know that the 76-million strong baby boom generation will begin to retire in about ten years? When that happens, changes will need to be made to Social Security — changes to make sure there’s enough money to continue paying full benefits. And most experts agree, the sooner those changes are made, the less they are going to cost.”
In his letter to Commissioner Barnhart, Lautenberg wrote, “I strongly object to SSA’s use of taxpayer dollars to promote a partisan political agenda, and ask that you remove these messages from your telephone lines.”
This is only the latest in a long line of similar abuses. Bush’s HHS used our money to create TV propaganda to promote his Medicare scheme. Bush’s Education Department did the same thing. Bush’s Treasury Department relied on public officials calculating data for GOP talking points on John Kerry’s tax proposals. This happened a few months after Bush’s Treasury Department issued a highly questionable report on the effects of Howard Dean’s economic proposals.
Bush has the money; why does he insist on misusing neutral government agencies to advance his agenda? Because he just doesn’t care. The taxpayer-financed career staff at HHS, Education, and Treasury, among others, does not exist to enhance Republiacn talking points, but that’s not a concern for this White House.
The political propaganda available for people on hold for the SSA is particularly offensive. It’s not only an obvious abuse of government resources; it’s information designed to mislead the public.
In the letter, Lautenberg points out that among the factual inaccuracies in these messages is the assertion that changes need to be made in ten years to ensure that Social Security has enough money to continue paying full benefits. Lautenberg pointed out that the Bush administration itself concedes that such funds are sufficient to pay full benefits through 2042. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the system will be solvent even longer — until 2053.
Moreover, though I haven’t looked into this too closely, I also wonder if this stunt raises legal questions. In May, non-partisan investigators at the General Accounting Office said the Bush administration had broken the law last year by misusing tax dollars for political purposes.
The Bush administration violated two federal laws through part of its publicity campaign to promote changes in Medicare intended to help older Americans afford prescription drugs, the investigative arm of Congress said yesterday.
The General Accounting Office concluded that the Department of Health and Human Services illegally spent federal money on what amounted to covert propaganda by producing videos about the Medicare changes that were made to look like news reports. Portions of the videos, which have been aired by 40 television stations around the country, do not make it clear that the announcers were paid by HHS and were not real reporters.
Obviously, this SSA example is a different circumstance and far less money is being used. Nevertheless, if the law prohibits the use of federal resources for political propaganda, wouldn’t the use of SSA’s on-hold message be an example of such a violation?