John,

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made it as clear as she can on what happens if MAGA Republicans succeed in driving the United States into default:¹

It is unlikely that the federal government would be able to issue payments to millions of Americans, including our military families and seniors who rely on Social Security.

When we have called the extremist Republican tactic ‘legislative terrorism’ or ‘hostage taking,’ this is what we meant: Republicans are saying that if we don’t go along with their plans, they’ll stop Social Security checks from going out, stop paychecks to the troops, and create economic havoc that could cost millions of jobs. MAGA extremists like Kevin McCarthy are literally holding 40 million seniors hostage―and many of them don’t even know it.

There’s a way to avoid this―to release the hostages without harming anyone. It’s called a “discharge petition” and it allows anything supported by the majority of the House to come to the floor, even if the Speaker objects.

We just need 5 Republicans to see sense and join the Democrats, and we can pass a clean debt ceiling. Can you write your Representatives and ask them to support a clean debt ceiling increase?

Our tool makes it easy―we’ve got a message you can just click and send. Democrats are gathering the necessary signatures for the discharge petition now, so whatever party your Representative belongs to, they need to hear from you.

Thanks,

Alex Lawson
Social Security Works

P.S. We’re on Capitol Hill right now spreading awareness of how serious the danger of default is to Social Security. We need to boost the general public’s awareness too―especially since the deadline is June 1. Can you chip in $X to fund our campaign?

¹ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/yellen-warns-default-would-disrupt-social-security-payments-raise-borrowing-costs-into-perpetuity-6d7ff55c