Donald Trump is Elected President of the United States Again

Donald Trump will return to the White House following Tuesday's elections, winning key states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans have also taken control of the U.S. Senate, winning 52 seats to the Democrats’ 45, with Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania’s contests still undecided as of noon Eastern Time Friday. Control of the House of Representatives still hangs in the balance; as of Friday, Republicans had secured 211 of the 218 seats needed to win the majority, while Democrats had secured 199.    

Nationally, 47.7% of all voters cast ballots for Vice President Harris while 50.7% voted for Trump. Among voters 65+, Harris and Trump each won 49% of the vote, according to CNN exit polls. The senior vote for Harris-Walz was an improvement over the 47% of voters 65+ who voted for Biden in 2020, versus 52% for Trump last time.

Harris’ numbers represented the strongest performance for Democrats since the Kerry-Edwards ticket in 2004. Among all demographics, only voters 65+ and college-educated white women voted in higher percentages for Democrats in 2024 compared to 2020.

Based on their records and positions on retiree issues, the Alliance endorsed 263 candidates prior to the elections. Of those, 186 candidates have won, with 22 races still undecided. Among the victors endorsed by the Alliance were Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Senators-elect Angela Alsobrooks (MD) and Elissa Slotkin (MI). Sen. Jacky Rosen is currently leading in Nevada and Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running for the Senate in Arizona, is also ahead.

There were other bright spots at the state level: Alliance regional board member Sheila Lieder was reelected to the Colorado state House, 53%-47%. And in Washington State a hedge-fund multi-millionaire spent $7 million to pay people to collect signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would have undermined the solvency of the WA Cares Fund — the state's universal public long-term care insurance program — by making the program voluntary. The initiative was rejected by Washingtonians. 

“There is no sugar coating it: Tuesday’s results were a major disappointment for Alliance members. There will very likely be renewed attempts to slash seniors’ hard earned Social Security and Medicare benefits and roll back the progress the Biden-Harris administration made in lowering drug prices,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance. “However, we are ready for the battles ahead. We will continue to work with our friends on Capitol Hill to defend against all attacks on Social Security and Medicare, allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for more drugs, and keep the cap on insulin prices at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries.”

KFF Health News: Trump’s White House Return Poised To Tangle Health Care Safety Net

By Stephanie Armour

Former President Donald Trump’s election victory and looming return to the White House will likely bring changes that scale back the nation’s public health insurance programs — increasing the uninsured rate, while imposing new barriers to abortion and other reproductive care.

The reverberations will be felt far beyond Washington, D.C., and could include an erosion of the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, the imposition of work requirements in Medicaid and funding cuts to the safety net insurance, and challenges to federal agencies that safeguard public health. Abortion restrictions may tighten nationwide with a possible effort to restrict the mailing of abortion medications.

And with the elevation of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Trump’s inner circle of advisers, public health interventions with rigorous scientific backing — whether fluoridating public water supplies or inoculating children — could come under fire.

Read more here.

Final Reminder - Alliance’s Retirement Security Symposium

The Alliance and the AFL-CIO invite you to attend our annual Retiree Security Symposium, The Looming Retirement Security Crisis, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, DC.

Presenters and attendees will discuss the future of retirement security and how to face it as a movement, as well as the role of personal responsibility. We will also focus on the Butch Lewis Act: how the legislation is working, efforts to build on it to further protect pensions, and repercussions from bankruptcies.

Rep. John Larson (CT), House Committee on Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member, is confirmed to speak at the event. Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO, will send remarks via video.

Officials from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will discuss PBGC’s pension insurance programs, forecasting and pension trends, and mitigating risks to the insurance program.

A panel, “Protecting your Money: Tips from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),” will feature Brynne Keith-Jennings, Engagement and Policy Fellow with the Office of Financial Protection for Older Americans at CFPB, and Erin Scheithe with the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. The latest draft agenda can be found here.

Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/Symposium111324 to watch the event via livestream. Respondents who RSVP will receive the link. 

Please contact Joni Jones at [email protected] / 202-637-5377 with questions. Please consider hosting a virtual watch party and letting Joni Jones know how many people will be attending.

Alliance Calls on Speaker Johnson to Bring Social Security Fairness Act to the House Floor

On Tuesday, while Americans were focused on Election Day, two members of the House Freedom Caucus blocked the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. 82, from proceeding to the House floor for a vote Their action prevented 2.5 million retired public workers or their spouses from receiving the Social Security benefits that they have earned.

“The bill that Reps. Bob Good (R-VA) and Andy Harris (R-MD) tried to kill has more than 300 bipartisan co-sponsors, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. If they thought no one would notice, they were sorely mistaken,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance.

Alliance members are calling on Speaker Johnson to bring the Social Security Fairness Act to the floor for a vote this month, as planned, since the issue affects millions of Americans.

 Speaker Johnson

Fiesta stressed that the bill to restore the benefits of those affected deserves an up or down vote on the merits.

The Social Security Fairness Act eliminates the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which unfairly reduce Social Security benefits for public sector retirees who receive a public pension — or the spouse or survivor of a Social Security beneficiary — who worked in a job not covered by the Social Security program.

The WEP and GPO disproportionately affect lower-income workers and women. As a result, many face unnecessary economic hardship during retirement.

Alliance Wishes All of its Members a Happy Veterans Day

Veterans Day is this Monday, and the White House has issued a proclamation to mark the occasion that includes not only veterans and their families, but also caregivers.

“In respect and recognition of the contributions our veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a)) that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public holiday to honor our Nation’s veterans,” President Joe Biden declared.

“Developments in the news continue to remind us just how fragile our democracy is,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “It is my honor to recognize and thank all the brave Americans who have fought to protect our nation and our way of life.”

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