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Secretive Super Committee May Raid Your Social Security, Medicare Funds

Take Action: We need you to contact your senators and representatives now about harmful cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are being seriously considered by the super-secret "super committee."

Call and email members of your congressional delegation, and tell them that you will not stand by to see politicians raid critically important programs that benefit millions in order to pay for two un-funded wars, Wall Street greed and politicians' failure to require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share in federal taxes. Use our message below, or write one of your own, but please make sure Congress hears from you!

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Background: The six Republican members of the super committee (formally, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) are insisting that $2.2 trillion needs to be trimmed from the federal debt, and much of that should come from steep spending cuts on programs that benefit the most vulnerable in society. None would come from fair taxes on millionaires. Not to be seen as tax-and-spenders, the Democratic members are reportedly proposing a whopping $3 trillion spending cut. The Democrats' plan would cut the Social Security COLA, make deep Medicare and Medicaid cuts, and not raise close to enough revenues to even have a balance between budget cuts and new revenues. Outrageous!

Super committee members are reportedly ready to shrink your Social Security retirement and disability benefits by reducing the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and are proposing to carve a big chunk out of Medicare, placing a higher burden on seniors to pay for increasing health care cuts. A Medicare cut would also be imposed on health care providers, meaning that fewer doctors would want to care for seniors. The Social Security COLA change would most negatively affect older women, who could lose income equal to a month's worth of groceries each year.

The public is way ahead of Congress on this issue: a poll taken by both Democratic and Republican pollsters in September showed that voters overwhelmingly oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a way to reduce the deficit. By a 50 point margin, they oppose including cuts to these programs as part of a possible super committee plan. Opposition to these cuts remains strong across party lines, as 82 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents and 58 percent of Republicans oppose these cuts.

In addition, voters polled oppose means testing, changing the COLA formula and raising the retirement age. As to Medicare, those voters say NO to raising the eligibility age to 67, increasing co-pays and cutting reimbursements to providers.

Most importantly, a majority of polled voters -- even among Republicans -- say that taxes must be increased on the highest income earners instead of cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a way to reduce the deficit.

Read NOW President Terry O'Neill's related statement»

More information on the bi-partisan poll »

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