Senator Cassidy’s Support for Executive Actions Jeopardizes Social Security and Medicare

Senator Cassidy’s Support for Executive Actions Jeopardizes Social Security and Medicare

BATON ROUGE, LA – This morning, Sen. Bill Cassidy took to the airwaves to give his full throated support for the executive orders that deferred payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare. This action, which experts have said raises “red flags,” comes after Sen. Cassidy and Senate Republicans sat idle for more than two months without introducing a coronavirus relief package and allowed $600 weekly unemployment payments to expire. The orders place Social Security and Medicare in jeopardy, leaving the programs on “even shakier ground.”

“In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Louisianans are looking to their leaders for stability so they can continue to afford housing, health care, and food. But Sen. Cassidy has let them down again,” Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, Chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party said. “If the Senior Senator from Louisiana had done his job and passed a relief package last month, these questionable executive orders wouldn’t have been needed. Instead, now we have a patchwork of executive orders that will slash unemployment payments and destabilize Social Security and Medicare for seniors. We agree it is hard work to build consensus and compromise, but Bill Cassidy shows time and again when the question is between his blind loyalty to the President or standing up for the people of Louisiana – Louisiana always loses.”