GOP cuts benefit

The Associated Press reported on an action by House Republicans on Social Security disability. They included a new rule that bars funds from the larger Social Security retirement fund to be transferred to the smaller and rapidly decreasing fund for Social Security disability. Given that the disability fund will not be able to pay full benefits after 2016, the average benefit amount paid to recipients will be reduced approximately 20 percent.

All Republicans voted in favor of the rule, and all the Democrats opposed it. The Social Security disability fund could be replenished with new taxes, but that isn’t going to happen with a Republican-controlled Congress.

So if you are on Social Security disability, when your check is reduced by 20 percent in the very near future, put your anger where it belongs: on the desk of the Republican Party. And when you cast your next ballot, you had best put your personal interests first and your political ideology last. It is better for your financial health.

Allen Roberts

St. John, Wash.