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Dear John,
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Today, Congress is one step closer to creating a Social Security and Medicare Commission that could lead to deep benefit cuts.
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Yesterday, the GOP-controlled House Budget Committee marked up and reported out legislation, with bipartisan and misguided support, to create a so-called “fiscal commission” that would have the power to recommend radical “reforms” to Social Security and Medicare. This is the final step in the legislative process before a bill comes to the House Floor for a vote. Of course, these recommendations for benefit cuts would go through Congress by a fast-track process without the input of seniors like you.
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John, that’s why I urge you to sign our “Emergency Petition to Congress to Reject a Benefit-Cutting Commission” today. Ensure your voice is heard loud and clear in Washington, DC as momentum grows to create a “fiscal commission.”
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As you know, commissions are designed to squeeze every possible dollar of savings out of the Trust Fund programs without consideration for the adequacy of benefits during their deliberations. They are intended as a maneuver 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.
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While we believe that Social Security and Medicare must undergo changes both to ensure their long-term solvency as well as to enhance benefits, the future of these critical programs must not and should not be determined as part of a budget cutting exercise.
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Instead, the committees with jurisdiction over Social Security and Medicare should hold hearings and develop legislation that will have strengthening the economic and health security of the American people rather than budget cutting as its primary mission. And Congress should vote on any consensus package produced under the regular rules of the House and Senate.
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GOP hardliners in the U.S. House of Representatives are getting closer to ramming commission legislation through Congress in exchange for keeping the government open. So please help the National Committee stop this commission from getting underway by signing our Urgent Petition to Congress today!
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