July, 15 2011, 11:30am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Don Owens, (202) 587-1653 dowens@socialsecurity-works.
Josh Rosenblum, (202) 587-1635 jrosenblum@socialsecurity-
Thousands of Seniors Lobby Congress to Block Social Security Cuts
WASHINGTON
Feeling betrayed by the possibility of Social Security cuts being included in debt-ceiling legislation, thousands of seniors and advocates participated in a National Call Congress Day today to urge members of Congress to not make Social Security cuts and to resist attempts to raid Social Security in order to maintain tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. The call-in day was sponsored by the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of more than 300 national and state organizations.
"The President again acknowledged this week that Social Security does not cause the federal deficit, yet Social Security is still on the table in deficit-reduction discussions," said Eric Kingson, Co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign. "Negotiators should not cut people's hard-earned Social Security benefits in order to maintain tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires."
The President and congressional negotiators reportedly are seeking to strike a deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling that would cut Social Security's annual COLA by changing the formula used to calculate it to the so-called chained CPI. This would result in Social Security benefit cuts of $112 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
"Politicians in Washington promised that current beneficiaries would not have their benefits cut, but the Social Security COLA cut would do just that," said Kingson. "People are feeling betrayed."
The Strengthen Social Security Campaign is comprised of more than 300 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans from many of the nation's leading aging, labor, disability, women's, children, consumer, civil rights and equality organizations.
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