I hope you'll read this entire email, but if you don't, this is the big thing you need to know:

A number of Republicans have pledged that — if they win the majority in the House and Senate next month — they will work to sunset all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare. While some have discounted this risk, we know that cutting these health and retirement programs will come into play as Republicans are already threatening to hold next year’s debt ceiling deadline hostage to their whims.

We still have 19 days to stop them and their reckless plans, and we need to make every day count! Can you chip in $3, or whatever you are able, to support our final push to protect our Democratic majority and support Democratic candidates in tough races across the country?

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A number of Senate Republicans have put forward new plans to sunset or cut Social Security and Medicare — and leave the folks who paid into those programs without the support they were told they could rely on. That's unacceptable.

Florida Senator Rick Scott wants to put our historic social insurance programs up for Congressional reauthorization every five years — a formula that would ensure a GOP rush to put them on the chopping block. Not to be outdone, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson wants Congress to vote annually on whether seniors will continue to receive the retirement support that they have already paid into — and rely on to access prescription drugs.

The House Republican Leader, Kevin McCarthy, has already signaled that if Republicans win the majority, next year’s debt-ceiling deadline will be used to make large cuts to programs — and that means they will target programs that are essential to seniors and families. We have seen this movie before and they haven’t changed their stripes.

That's why it’s so critically important that we keep working every single day to get folks to the polls to protect our Democratic majorities. The stakes are too high to leave anything on the table.

In 2010 when the 'Tea Party' Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives, I became the Ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. In that role, I spent my days and evenings battling Paul Ryan and the “trickle down” ideologues to prevent massive cuts to our social safety net. That same ideology still has a tight grip on the GOP.  And — if they get control of the reins of Congress — the wealthiest Americans will be just fine, but seniors, families, and others will suffer.

This fight is about what kind of country we want to be.

Thank you for being a part of this.

Onwards!

Chris

Van Hollen for Senate
10605 Concord St. Ste 202
Kensington, MD 20895
www.vanhollen.org