Social Security: Tell Your Senators to Oppose Benefit Cuts

TAKE ACTION:

Please send a message to tell your senators you want Social Security benefits protected, not cut!

There is a raging debate going on in Congress right now about what to do with the federal deficit. Conservatives are using this opportunity to push for deep cuts to Social Security -- even though Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.

NOW is working with allies and leading senators to push for the Social Security Protection Amendment (S.AMDT.207, as modified) that says "Hands off Social Security!" We need your help to contact senators ASAP to urge that they support the amendment.

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BACKGROUND:

When Congress has to vote in coming weeks on whether to raise the debt ceiling, conservative opponents of Social Security will also push to cut benefits and increase the retirement age to 69 (also a deep benefit cut). This must not be allowed to happen! To head off such a disastrous move, NOW and other progressive groups are organizing to build support in the Senate for an amendment that says "Hands off Social Security!"

The Social Security Protection Amendment, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), declares that Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries should not be cut and that Social Security should not be privatized as part of any legislation to reduce the federal deficit.

This amendment could be brought to a vote the week of March 28, and we hope that NOW members and allies will communicate with their senators about the need to support this amendment. Social Security has not contributed one dime to the federal deficit and, in fact, has a $2.6 trillion surplus that can pay benefits through at least 2037. Social Security keeps millions of older women (and men) in the middle class and out of poverty, supports families when a worker becomes disabled or deceased and, in general, contributes to a safety net for communities during rough economic times.

Millions of baby boomers are just beginning to retire and many face an uncertain future due to the losses in the value of their savings and investments during the recent recession. Our leaders ought to be working to strengthen Social Security by improving benefits, not cutting them or surreptitiously trying to end the program.

You should know that the debate over Social Security and cutting the federal deficit is just part of conservatives' plan to privatize the entire program. Billionaire right-wingers have poured tens of millions into a propaganda campaign designed to eventually require everyone to invest in the stock market for their retirement. They want your money -- and their shills are working overtime to get you to think you have to give it up!

Please send a message right away to tell your senators that you flat-out oppose reducing Social Security benefits or increasing the retirement age. Ask them to support S.AMDT.207 and to join an important group, the Senate's Defend Social Security Caucus.

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