John,

Donald Trump is trying to rip Social Security disability benefits away from hundreds of thousands of disabled Americans. This headline from Salon[1] says it all:

Right now, there’s a public comment period where we can oppose the cruelty of the Trump administration. And, as we speak, we’re building a tool that will allow Social Security Works members and our allies to submit their comments as easily as if they were signing a petition.

Read Alex’s email below for more details about Trump’s cruel plan that will hurt hundreds of thousands of people and then pitch in $5 or more to fight back!

This is Trump’s most brazen attack on our earned benefits yet. Donate today to rally our allies and protect Social Security.

Thank you,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works

--ALEX'S EMAIL--

Donald Trump’s administration just announced a new proposal to strip many people with disabilities of their Social Security benefits. We’re fighting back―chip in $5 today!

The Republican plan to destroy our Social Security system isn’t that hard to understand: Social Security is a universal benefit that we all pay into, so we can all stand together to defend it. The strategy is to divide people, and get us to fight each other. By pitting old against young, sick against healthy, middle-class against poor, they seek to drive down Social Security’s universal popularity and force the public to accept benefit cuts.

This is the Trump Administration’s most brazen attack on our earned benefits yet―and if they can take anyone’s benefits away now, they will eventually take all of ours away.

We have until January 31 to stop this proposed rule put forward by Trump’s Social Security Administration. Together, we must rally our allies to fight every day to stop it. Chip in to support our campaign to stop Trump’s proposed Social Security cuts!

The Trump Administration proposal would require millions of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries to re-prove their eligibility for benefits as often as every six months. There is absolutely no justification for this policy. The United States already has one of the strictest eligibility criteria for disability benefits in the world. More than half of all claims are denied.¹

We should be making it easier for workers who need SSDI to claim the benefits they’ve earned with every paycheck, not harder. And ripping benefits away from current beneficiaries, who rely on them to survive, is even worse.

We know what the effects of the Trump proposal would be, because Ronald Reagan implemented a very similar benefit cut back in the 1980s. Reagan’s policy ripped away the benefits of 200,000 Americans with disabilities. The New York Times reported that “people with obvious physical and mental disabilities” lost their benefits “without having been interviewed.”²

Ultimately, Reagan was forced to reverse his attack on Social Security after massive public outcry, and bipartisan condemnation from Congress―but not before people suffered and died, including several who committed suicide.³

This proposal is Trump’s attempt to build a wall of bureaucracy between the American people and the benefits that we’ve earned. Together, we’re fighting back.

Remember: Donald Trump has already proposed over $2 trillion in cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.⁴ He, along with Republicans in Congress, spent the first year of his administration trying to destroy Medicare and Medicaid and replace them with Trumpcare.⁵ And he has called cutting our earned benefits “a fun second-term project.”⁶

It’s up to us to stand together and stop any attempt to cut our Social Security system! Chip in to fight back!

Thanks,

Alex Lawson
Social Security Works