John,

Just because Donald Trump is gone doesn’t mean that the bad ideas from the Trump era are gone with him. Case in point: Around 4am, during this week’s all-night vote-a-rama in the Senate, Mitt Romney passed a non-binding resolution that was strikingly similar to his Social Security-attacking TRUST Act.

The TRUST Act, in case you don’t remember, was a piece of legislation that sets up fast-tracked, closed-door commissions designed to cut Social Security and Medicare. Of course, Mitt doesn’t frame it that way―it’s all about “bipartisan deficit reduction” in his telling. But Bernie Sanders made the stakes extremely clear before the Senate voted on Mitt’s resolution:

I regretfully oppose this amendment because I fear at the end of the day, what will happen is that we will be cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and impacting some of the most vulnerable people in this country.

The Wall Street billionaires who goaded Trump into trying to defund and destroy Social Security aren’t resting just because Joe Biden is in the White House. So we can’t either.

Social Security Works successfully defended our Social Security system all through the Trump administration, and we’re not going to let our guard down now. We’re powered with grassroots donations. Can you chip in $7 to beat Mitt Romney’s Social Security-cutting plan?

I want to be clear: this was a non-binding resolution. The TRUST Act has not passed. And we’re going to ensure that it never does. But the fact that Mitt offered it, and enough Senators supported it for it to pass, means we have work to do.

The TRUST Act came close to being included in multiple COVID relief bills last year. With Republicans deciding to focus on the deficit now that there’s a Democrat in the White House, it is going to come up again.

It’s an absurd notion, because Social Security doesn’t contribute a single penny to the deficit―it’s independently funded by contributions that working Americans make with every paycheck. But just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that Republicans won’t repeat it and try to act on it.

We’re going to stop them. Chip in $7 now to ensure that we EXPAND Social Security benefits, never cut them.

Thanks,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works