Media Watchdogs Refute GOP's Lies about Undocumented Immigrants, Medicare and Social Security

The 2024 Republican party platform, largely created by former President Donald Trump, is promising many things to America’s seniors. However, it rarely describes how he and the GOP would achieve those goals.

At the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, Trump falsely claimed, “I'm going to protect Social Security and Medicare. Democrats are going to destroy Social Security and Medicare because all of these people, by the millions, they’re coming in.”

Under the law, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicare or Social Security benefits. Because undocumented workers must pay the Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes but can’t collect benefits, their wages actually strengthen the programs.

“Donald Trump and the GOP need to stop lying about Medicare and Social Security to try and get votes,”said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “Neither President Biden nor Vice President Harris, nor the Democratic Platform, supports extending Medicare benefits to undocumented immigrants.”

“In contrast, President Biden has been honest about Medicare and repeatedly proven that he will protect seniors’ best interests,” added Alliance President Robert Roach, Jr. “He signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and caps insulin prices at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. With another term, he will do even more to strengthen and expand Social Security and Medicare.”

AFL-CIO Highlights the Anti-Worker Foundation of Trump’s Second-Term Agenda

The AFL-CIO highlighted the threat Donald Trump’s agenda poses to workers hours before he took the Republican National Convention stage on Thursday with a comprehensive new online guide that digs into the policies of the Trump Project 2025 Agenda that will impact working people, their families, and the future of America’s unions.

That agenda includes:

• Banning unions for public service workers (page 82);
• Firing civil service workers and replacing them with Trump anti-union loyalists (page 80);
• Letting bosses eliminate unions mid-contract (page 603);
• Letting companies stop paying overtime (page 592) and allowing states to opt out of federal overtime and minimum wage laws (page 605);
• Eliminating child labor protections (page 595);
• Urging Congress to pass Sen. J.D. Vance’s bill to let employers create their own sham company-run unions (page 599).

The online tool also exposes Project 2025’s plans to gut health and safety protections; attack civil, labor, and consumer rights; eviscerate retirement security; and undermine our ability to hold the wealthy and corporations accountable.

“In his first term as president, Donald Trump was a disaster for workers and our unions, governing exclusively for the wealthy and well-connected,” said Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO. “The Trump Project 2025 Agenda lays out his plan to turbocharge his anti-worker policies, eliminate or control unions, and eviscerate labor laws and workers’ contracts.”

Trump-Vance: Another Step Toward Retirement Insecurity

On Monday, Trump chose Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his nominee for Vice President, and Vance accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday.

Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance, issued a statement about the nomination, declaring that Trump’s choice of Vance “locks in place a ticket that endangers the programs and issues that retirees care about the most: the protection and expansion of their earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.”

“As a member of the U.S. Senate in 2023 and 2024, Sen. Vance earned just a 13% lifetime Pro-Retiree Score in the Alliance for Retired Americans Congressional Voting Record for his votes on important senior issues,” Fiesta added. “Donald Trump has long acknowledged he would be open to slashing Medicare and Social Security spending in a second term as President, and Sen. Vance also supports cutting those benefits.”

In a 2010 blog post Vance wrote that Social Security and Medicare were "roadblocks to any kind of fiscal sanity."

Trump first appeared at the convention just two days after an assassin attempted to end his life on Saturday in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, injuring his ear.

“Violence is certainly never acceptable in politics,” said President Roach. "We are relieved to see Donald Trump was able to recover quickly and we send our deepest condolences to the victims and families affected by this horrific act."

KFF Health News: States Set Minimum Staffing Levels for Nursing Homes. Residents Suffer When Rules Are Ignored or Waived.

By Jordan Rau

For hours, John Pernorio repeatedly mashed the call button at his bedside in the Heritage Hills nursing home in Rhode Island. A retired truck driver, he had injured his spine in a fall on the job decades earlier and could no longer walk. The antibiotics he was taking made him need to go to the bathroom frequently. But he could get there only if someone helped him into his wheelchair.

By the time an aide finally responded, he’d been lying in soiled briefs for hours, he said. It happened time and again.

“It was degrading,” said Pernorio, 79. “I spent 21 hours a day in bed.”

Payroll records show that during his stay at Heritage Hills, daily aide staffing levels were 25% below the minimums under state law.

John Pernorio is president of the Rhode Island Alliance. Read more here.

Heritage Hills Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island, acknowledged that it had fewer nurses and aides than required by state law. But Rhode Island doesn’t enforce the rules. (JOSEPHINE SITTENFELD FOR KFF HEALTH NEWS)

“John was brave to come forward with his experience,” said Executive Director Fiesta. “We thank him for standing up for seniors in nursing homes who too often are not heard.”

Alliance Joins "Boomers for Biden-Harris Rock ’n Doo-Wop Party"

President Biden’s reelection campaign hosted a virtual “Rock ‘n Doo-Wop Party” with celebrity musical guests Wednesday. The event celebrated the 59th anniversary of the Older Americans Act and was part of an initiative to court seniors ahead of November. The party included musical performances by “Dancing in The Street” singer Martha Reeves, as well as singers Gene Chandler, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Jay Siegel, Peggy March, LaLa Brooks and Johnny Contardo. Executive Director Fiesta spoke and former Sha Na Na singer and seniors activist Jon "Bowzer" Bauman emceed the event.

“Most Americans know and care about the programs and services that the Older Americans Act (OAA) makes possible,” said Fiesta. “Meals on Wheels and similar programs deliver healthy, hot meals to 2.2 million seniors’ front doors a year, and the OAA keeps the doors of 9,000 senior centers across the country open, offering millions of seniors a safe, welcoming place to go for an educational event, an exercise class, access to a computer, or health information assistance. Taken together, these programs help older Americans remain in their own home as they age. But their future – incredibly – may depend on the reelection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

Fiesta also spoke about the senior vote; the latest developments regarding the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to lower drug prices; and threats to Social Security and Medicare at the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Retirees Conference in Detroit last weekend and the A. Philip Randolph Institute 2024 Convention in Hollywood, Florida this week.

Alliance’s Northeast Regional Meeting is Less than Two Weeks Away

Registration is still open for the Northeast regional meeting in Washington, D.C., July 30-31, 2024. Strengthen your skills as a retiree activist! Make sure you’re ready to help elect pro-retiree candidates this November and win the fight for retirement security. Click here to register.

All meeting attendees will participate in four interactive workshops with fellow retiree activists. For more information, please contact Joni Jones by calling 202-637-5377 or e-mail [email protected].

Thanks for reading. Every day, we're fighting to lower prescription drug prices and protect retirees' earned benefits and health care. But we can't do it without your help. Please support our work by donating below.