Dear John,

GOP hardliners in Congress haven’t given up on their crusade to slash your earned benefits …

After failing to get their way in the debt ceiling battle, a small but powerful group of disgruntled Republican lawmakers has now set their sights on must-pass spending bills to exact significant cuts to the programs and services that seniors rely on.

And, once again, they could be preparing to hold our government hostage if they don’t get their way! (As a reminder, these are the same lawmakers who want to make the unpaid-for Trump-GOP tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.)

The cuts GOP extremists are demanding go far deeper than the spending caps in the debt ceiling bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden just a couple of weeks ago — cuts that could significantly reduce funding for the perpetually hobbled Social Security Administration (SSA) and programs like Meals on Wheels.

That’s why I’m asking you to join with your fellow older Americans across the country by signing the National Committee’s Emergency Petition to Congress to put lawmakers on notice that SENIORS WILL NOT BE SCAPEGOATED for our nation’s fiscal problems!

If GOP extremists obstruct the business of Congress long enough — and lawmakers fail to pass critical spending bills by September 30 — we could be faced with a government shutdown … which could impact SSA customer service, creating even longer wait times on their toll-free phone line and more extensive delays for people awaiting disability claims hearings.

As we told you about recently, Speaker McCarthy is trying to placate extremists in his own party by creating an “Entitlement Commission” that is tasked with finding spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare. According to Senator Ron Wyden (OR), Republicans are “looking at a glide path to reduce benefits.” But that dangerous proposal could be just the tip of the iceberg …

That’s why the National Committee is meeting with lawmakers and their staff, providing testimony on Capitol Hill, conducting interviews in trusted media news outlets, writing op-eds in major newspapers and rallying more concerned Americans like you to this fight to put pressure on lawmakers to oppose any proposal, bill or amendment designed to reduce budget deficits on the backs of seniors.

But to be even more effective we need to ensure your voice is heard directly by lawmakers in Congress ASAP. So please, tell your members of Congress: “Don’t Cut Seniors’ Programs, Services or Earned Benefits!” by signing our EMERGENCY PETITION today!

Sincerely,

Max Richtman

President & CEO