June, 19 2018, 12:00am EDT
Activists Hold Rally to Keep North Baltimore's Social Security Office Open
This morning, activists, including advocates and retirees, held a rally opposing the planned closure of North Baltimore's Social Security office. The office is currently scheduled to be closed later this week on June 22nd.
WASHINGTON
This morning, activists, including advocates and retirees, held a rally opposing the planned closure of North Baltimore's Social Security office. The office is currently scheduled to be closed later this week on June 22nd.
Video of the event is available here.
Since 2011, baby boomers have been retiring at the rate of 10,000 a day, expanding the population that the Social Security Administration (SSA) serves. In recent years, the agency has closed 64 field offices due to budget constraints. These office closures make it increasingly difficult for Americans to access their earned benefits.
With SSA having finally secured a funding increase in the recent congressional spending bill, the agency should be opening new offices, not closing them. Polling shows that 84 percent of Americans oppose office closures.
"There is a war against Social Security and closing this office is one of the battles," Social Security Works President Nancy Altman said at the rally. "The Koch brothers and other billionaires want to take away our earned benefits. If they can't succeed at that, they want to make it as hard as possible for us to claim our benefits."
Other speakers at the event included seniors who rely on the office, a representative from the office of Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), and representatives of the American Federation of Government Employees, Metro Baltimore AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans, and National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
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