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Dear John,
Once again, Republicans are trying to cut Social Security.
As they have tried before, they are establishing a supposedly “bipartisan” debt commission to create a bill that “must” be voted on during the 2024 “lame duck” session, when retiring members of Congress can vote for unpopular things. They know the American people object to cutting Social Security, so they are trying to do it behind closed doors.
"There already is a bipartisan forum where these kinds of decisions should get made,” said Rep. Jim McGovern. “It's called Congress, and we shouldn't pass the buck to a commission [to do what] we ourselves don't want to do."
The key to defeating this craven policy is to recognize the best defense is a strong offense. If we seriously want to address the deficit, the very first thing that must be done is to get the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. This would not just make cuts completely unnecessary, it would also allow for significant coverage expansion.
Tell Congress: Reject the cynical ploy to create a “debt commission” to cut Social Security behind closed doors. Instead, expand Social Security benefits and ensure its solvency with tax policies that require the wealthy to pay their fair share now.
The top House Democrat, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said "There are real concerns that any so-called commission being backed by the extreme MAGA Republicans is part of a back door way of trying to gut Social Security."
A statement from the Biden administration raised similar concerns: "If a commission like this became a Trojan Horse to cut Social Security and Medicare, we would call it out for threatening the retirement benefits that Americans have spent a lifetime to earn."
Co-sponsor of the Senate bill, Senator Joe Manchin, responded pithily: “Trojan my butt. I'm so sick and tired of hearing this Trojan stuff from anyone in the administration or anyone in any political party." This response from an architect of the bill is hardly reassuring.
Social Security is the heart of the American retirement system.
It provides guaranteed income to workers in retirement and effectively boosts American retirement security. Nearly half of Americans, having had to live paycheck to paycheck at jobs that may not pay a living wage, have had no opportunity to build a retirement savings.
As we begin to face the looming retirement crisis, the protection and expansion of Social Security must be our priority. Already the baby boomers have begun to retire en masse as the American population ages, reducing the proportion of workers to retirees.
Social Security, as intended, is a lifeline for seniors, who need not be solely dependent on family or resigned to a life of poverty after a lifetime of hard work.
Demand Congress: Expand Social Security benefits, and pay for it by requiring the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes now.
Thank you for protecting the retirement of American seniors for generations to come.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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