STOP Bullying America’s Working Class: End the Calls to Cut Our Earned Benefits

Social Security is an earned benefit and a major source of income for most of America’s elderly with 46% of retirees depending on Social Security for 90% or more of their income and an average monthly benefit of just $1,340. A 27 year-old worker with a spouse and children already has an average $500,000 worth of life and disability insurance through Social Security.  In fact, some 1.2 million millennials already receive Social Security benefits.

Medicare provides essential medical benefits and financial security to 55 million Americans. This vital program must not be turned into a “coupon care” system that would cost seniors more but give them less coverage, thereby putting their health and economic security in jeopardy.

The Affordable Care Act strengthens Medicare’s financing by extending the solvency of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund by more than a decade, and it lowers Part B out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries and closes the Part D prescription drug doughnut hole.

In poll after poll, Americans of all all ages and political stripes are united in their belief that Social Security and Medicare benefits must not be cut. Instead, Congress should be talking about boosting benefits to protect working class Americans and retirees.

I urge you to lead Congress in rejecting any proposal that cuts or fundamentally changes our earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.

It’s the fair thing to do to protect our families and uphold our values.