Dear John,

“I’m going to make some people uncomfortable …”

It didn’t take long for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to pivot back to a top priority of hardliners in the Republican Party: slashing seniors’ earned benefits to fund massive tax breaks for the wealthy and huge corporations.

In an effort to temper the anger of GOP extremists who were upset they failed to force America off a fiscal cliff, Speaker McCarthy quickly announced he plans to establish a “Bipartisan Commission” tasked with finding spending cuts in Social Security and Medicare.

We must respond to this emerging threat to seniors’ earned benefits ASAP! That’s why I urge you to sign the National Committee’s Emergency Petition to Congress to Oppose the Creation of a Commission Tasked with Proposing “Reforms” to Social Security and Medicare today!

Commissions like this are intended as a vehicle for enacting deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare that could never pass Congress on their own because of their unpopularity with the voting public. They could have the power to fast-track proposals through Congress — proposals that would likely include raising the retirement and Medicare eligibility ages, slashing the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) and privatizing Social Security and Medicare for the benefit of Wall Street brokers and huge insurance companies.

What’s worse, they are inevitably designed to avoid political accountability for enacting cuts to earned benefits that will unravel the foundation of economic security for generations.

As you know, Social Security and Medicare Part A do not contribute to the federal budget deficit. And neither Social Security nor Medicare should be the targets of so-called reform measures that cut vital earned benefits simply for the purpose of balancing the budget.

Make no mistake, the National Committee carries a lot of clout in Washington, DC for one important reason: lawmakers know that we represent the interests of tens of thousands of seniors, including you, across the country. So please, ensure your voice is heard before Speaker McCarthy can assemble his “entitlement” commission. Sign our EMERGENCY PETITION today!

Sincerely,

Max Richtman

President & CEO