John,

Next week, the Social Security Administration will announce the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security benefits. This will be a welcome relief for seniors and people with disabilities who have been struggling to keep up with rising prices throughout the year.

As a reminder: Social Security’s annual COLA is one of the system’s most important and unique features. It allows Social Security benefits to keep up with inflation, protecting benefits from eroding over time―something that 401(k)s and traditional pensions can’t do.

Even as seniors struggle to keep up with costs, Republicans think that Social Security benefits shouldn’t keep up with inflation. Republicans like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have pushed an alternative, less generous formula—a benefit cut in disguise.

If Republicans win in this year’s midterms, they’re going to put Social Security and Medicare cuts back on the table. Join Social Security Works as a member with a donation of $5 or more and make sure that everyone knows the stakes!

As important as the COLA is, the formula currently used for it only partially reflects the expenses that Social Security beneficiaries face. Seniors spend a greater proportion of their income on medical expenses―and the Social Security COLA should reflect that.

Several bills in Congress, including the Social Security 2100 Act, would fix the COLA formula by adopting the higher of current COLA or the outcome of the CPI-E, which is designed to measure inflation for the elderly. None of those bills are supported by a single Republican.

The stakes are clear: Democrats want to expand Social Security, while Republicans want to cut it. Already, Republicans in the House are making noise about repeating the 2011 plan of holding the debt limit hostage in exchange for Social Security and Medicare cuts. Social Security Works and our coalition defeated them then, but we may not be so lucky this time.

The best way to stop Republican hostage-taking over Social Security is to make sure voters know it’s coming before the election. Donate $5 or more to become a Social Security Works member today!

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Thanks,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works

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