Dear Friend,
I hope this message finds you well. I’m writing today to let you know about the important work the Alliance for Retired Americans is doing for retirees during the coronavirus crisis. We’ve had to go virtual, but we are still making an impact for older Americans. We could use your help though.
Like so many others, our personal and professional world has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. While the way we are working is different, our commitment to fighting for retirees and older Americans has not wavered.
Even though in-person chapter meetings have been suspended -- Alliance activists are still organizing by phone and online. We can’t visit senators and members of Congress at their local offices so we’re meeting with them through video conferences. We’re expanding using social media more than ever, holding Facebook and telephone town hall meetings, and delivering thousands of petition signatures to Congress by email.
I wanted to provide you with an update on some of our activities since the coronavirus crisis began:
- We helped force the Trump Administration to back down on its plan to require seniors, people with disabilities and veterans to file extra paperwork to receive the coronavirus stimulus checks;
- Held a telephone town hall meeting for more than 25,000 retirees and a public health expert who shared accurate and trustworthy information about how retirees can protect themselves from COVID-19;
- Filed lawsuits in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida to strengthen vote by mail and absentee voting and ensure that the ballots of seniors who vote by mail actually count; and we’re looking at more states with needless barriers to voting;
-
Forced the State of Florida to release the names of elder care homes with COVID-19 cases after a month of stalling by the state government;
- Delivered more than 32,000 petitions urging Congress to save our Postal Service and block the Trump Administration’s plan to privatize it.
The stakes are high. Too many COVID-19 cases and deaths are happening in nursing homes, skilled nursing and retirement communities. Some politicians are publicly saying that we must sacrifice tens of thousands more lives for the sake of the economy.
President Trump is demanding a cut in Social Security’s dedicated funding, and Rep. Kevin Brady is talking about cuts to Medicare and Social Security to pay for the cost of the crisis. We are sure to see a long line of so-called “deficit hawks” saying something similar. Cutting our earned benefits at this or any time is an outrage.
Thank you for all you do.
Rich
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
.jpg){kind=small}