Tag Archives: Social Security

Yesterday I was so excited that House Democrats blocked the extension of the Patriot Act, but now Senate Democrats are working day and night to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Social Security.

Just weeks after President Obama declared that cuts to Social Security were off the table, the Wall Street Journal reports that Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Kent Conrad are working with Republicans to resurrect the right-wing Deficit Commission’s proposals to cut Social Security and give huge new tax breaks to big corporations and the super rich.

This is ridiculous. Social Security is the backbone of the American middle class. It provides millions of seniors and disabled Americans the money they need to eat and pay rent in their greatest time of need. We must keep Social Security safe, stable and secure for them right now and for generations to come.

But it seems like some leaders just don’t get it, so we’re taking our campaign to the next level — television ads, polling, in-district rallies and events — whatever it takes to share the stories of DFA members and other Americans across the country who depend on Social Security.

We’re going to make sure that every American knows who is attacking Social Security and how to stop them, but we can’t make that happen without your support. Please contribute $10 right now to help make it happen.

Please contribute $10 right now so that every American knows who’s leading the attack on the American middle class.

Right-wing Republicans in the House have made gutting Social Security and destroying the middle class their top priority — and some Senate Democrats are saying “We have your back.”

We’re not going to let that happen. That’s why we’re building a huge national campaign to beat back this right-wing attack on the promise of Social Security to future generations.

Democracy for America depends on small contributions from its members across the country to get the job done. Please contribute today to fuel our aggressive campaign to win and keep Social Security safe, stable and secure.

Please contribute $10 now.

America is a community and we look out for one another. I know I can count on you.

-Arshad

Arshad Hasan, Executive Director

Democracy for America

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Safe, Stable, and Secure

01/26/2011 Nativegrl77

America is a community. We look out for each other as a nation. We build schools for our children, fund police for our safety and provide a secure retirement for our grandparents. We don’t toss aside our seniors when they need our help the most. Instead, each generation of American workers invests in the Social Security Trust Fund under the guarantee that someday when they retire or get too sick to work, the Trust Fund will be there for them.

Now, our community is coming under right-wing attack.

Republicans in the House are chomping at the bit to gut Social Security, threatening to raise the retirement age and cut benefits that millions of seniors depend on to survive. Claiming Social Security is in crisis is simply not true, but that doesn’t stop Republicans from saying it. Even with no changes to the system, reports show Social Security can pay out full benefits until at least 2037.

That’s why cutting benefits now, including raising the retirement age, must remain completely off the table. Social Security is the economic backbone of a retirement free from poverty and homelessness for aging and sick Americans no longer able to work. Raising the retirement age is a job-killer for young Americans while cuts to benefits will force the elderly to choose between food and rent. That is not the America we believe in and we will do everything in our power to stop cuts from happening.

But stopping cuts should not be good enough. We can do better.

Right now, Bill Gates doesn’t pay the same percentage of his income into Social Security that most Americans pay. Neither does Tom Cruise , Donald Trump or for that matter even President Obama. The reason why: the Social Security payroll tax is capped at $106,800 per individual costing tax payers billions of dollars in lost revenue from the people most able to invest. The cap risks the long-term health of the program while effectively giving wealthier Americans a tax cut.

Join me in calling on Congress to keep Social Security safe, stable, and secure for generations to come.

Please add your name now

http://act.democracyforamerica.com/go/435?akid=415.1612139.MVNkpw&t=2

This isn’t just any new campaign. We’re building off the success of our “Hands Off Social Security” campaign last year that helped defeat the reckless proposals created by the Deficit Commission. Now, we’re pulling out all the stops and going on offense.

It’s never been more important to stand up and fight than now. Right-wing Republicans are willing to do anything to tear down Social Security. They’re talking about shutting down the government, holding the debt ceiling hostage. Whatever it takes to destroy Social Security and prop up big banks, insurance companies and Wall Street, they’re going to do it.

We’re building on our biggest campaign ever to stop them and it starts today. The first step is to deliver a message that Americans are unified and standing strong against cuts while fighting for improvements. Can you help us get to 100,000 signatures by the end of the month to launch the campaign and send Congress and the President a message?

Yes! I want to join the campaign

http://act.democracyforamerica.com/go/435?akid=415.1612139.MVNkpw&t=2

We believe in a strong community that will keep Social Security safe, stable and secure for generations to come and we will stand up to make it happen.

Thank you for taking action today.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair

Democracy for America

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Call on President Obama to Protect and Strengthen Social Security

01/17/2011 Nativegrl77

Women Can’t Afford Cuts to Social Security

Call on President Obama to protect and strengthen Social Security.

Next week, President Obama will make his annual State of the Union address. It’s important that he use the speech to send a clear message to those who want to put Social Security on the chopping block: Social Security should be strengthened — not cut!

President Obama has opposed cutting and privatizing Social Security before. But we need him to speak out now in support of protecting and strengthening it.

Tell President Obama: Women Are Counting on You to Fight for Social Security!

If Social Security benefits are cut, women will bear much of the burden. Women live longer, rely more on Social Security, and already have lower benefits. Average benefits for women are just $12,000 per year. But Social Security provides more than half the income of the majority of women 65 and older. For one in four older women, Social Security is virtually their only source of income.

Nearly all Americans depend on Social Security at some point in their lives. Most are retirees. But millions are disabled workers, widows and widowers, and children who have lost the support of a parent through death or disability. We need to keep the promise of Social Security alive for them — and future generations.

Social Security has not contributed a penny to the federal deficit, and it’s not in crisis. In fact, Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus — it can pay 100 percent of promised benefits for 25 years and over 75 percent of benefits after that. With modest adjustments, Social Security can be strengthened and improved. Yet some Members of Congress are supporting proposals that would cut Social Security benefits deeply and are trying to push them through Congress.

Tell President Obama: Women Can’t Afford Cuts to Social Security.

We need your help to protect the promise of Social Security. And please spread the word by forwarding this message to friends, family and colleagues.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

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Women’s Progress in Peril – Help Us Now

12/02/2010 Nativegrl77

If the final days of the 111th Congress are any clue, you and I have our work cut out for us in 2011.

Earlier this month, 58 Senators voted to bring an important bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act, to the floor of the Senate for a full debate and vote. This measure would help close the continuing and shameful disparity between men’s and women’s wages.

But in highly polarized Washington, 58 votes are not enough. Needing 60, this critical reform died without ever receiving a vote on the merits.

We have fought too long and too hard for women and families to let injustices like this stand.

Please make an urgent contribution to the Center’s year-end campaign — every dollar you donate will be matched dollar for dollar by our Board of Directors, up to a total of $60,000.

It’s a sign of the times that our Board has issued this challenge.

For more than 38 years, the National Women’s Law Center has led the way for women and families — in the classroom, in the workplace and in society as a whole. Our team of experts, lawyers and advocates is a formidable force for women in America today. The coming year will be a tough one, but frankly we’ve been here before — and prevailed. And with your help, we can prevail again.

Here is a glimpse of some of the major challenges that we will take on in 2011, marshalling all of our experience, savvy and skill:

Advocate for an economic recovery plan that puts job creation and economy-boosting investments before deficit reduction in the short term. The recession has hit women hard and millions of women, many of them single mothers, are among the long-term unemployed. We will press for jobs and job supports, such as child care, that will help both these women and the economy.
At the same time, we will advocate for a long-term fiscal plan that protects programs vital to women and their families. We will press for additional revenues from a fair and responsible tax system and fight efforts to balance the budget on the backs of Social Security and Medicare, which have helped millions of women escape poverty and achieve some measure of economic and health security.
Protect health reforms that help women and families. The Center played a lead role in efforts to stop insurers from charging women higher premiums than men. And we shined a bright spotlight on the trauma of women being denied coverage by insurance companies that consider Cesareans and domestic violence to be “preexisting conditions.” Those were critical advances, and we won’t allow the country to go backwards.
Win confirmation of dozens of judges, who are superbly qualified and who await Senate confirmation to serve on the federal bench.
Catch up with the community of nations by ratifying the landmark international human rights treaty for women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women — CEDAW — ratified by all but the United States, Sudan, Somalia, Iran and three Island countries in the Pacific. Our nation’s presence on this list is simply shameful.

We’re up against what will certainly be one of the most challenging sessions of Congress in recent years, with many more Members hostile to core rights and programs critical to women’s lives. But if we’ve learned one thing in our 38 years, it’s this — that victories are possible even in the toughest of times.

Your support will never make a bigger difference. And between now and December 31st, the Board will match your gift dollar for dollar, up to a total of $60,000.

Please give generously. For women and families everywhere, you have our deepest thanks.

Sincerely,

Nancy Duff Campbell
Co-President
National Women’s Law Center

Marcia Greenberger
Co-President
National Women’s Law Center

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Call right now and demand no cuts to Social Security

11/30/2010 Nativegrl77

Let’s just call this so-called “Deficit Commission” what it really is — an attack on the middle class.

From the very start, right-wing Republicans have been using the commission as a platform to destroy Social Security. They want to cut benefits and raise the retirement age, knowing full well that it will throw millions of seniors into poverty.

It’s wrong. That’s why we supported candidates who stood strong for Social Security and that’s why we’re working today to hold them accountable to the promises they made.

Call your Senators right now and tell them Hands Off Social Security.

Call now at 1-866-529-7630 and tell Congress “No cuts, no raising the retirement age”

When we asked DFA members where they stood on Social Security, the answer was clear — you said to stand strong for Social Security — No cuts, no raising the retirement age — and that is exactly what we’re doing.

We’ll deliver our Hands Off Social Security petition, with almost 100,000 signatures from across the country, directly to members of the House of Representatives this week. But today’s target is the U.S. Senate. Whether your Senator is a supportive Democrat or a right-wing Republican bent on destroying Social Security, your call still has an impact. Strong supporters use these calls to back them up on the Senator floor and some Republicans will think twice about sticking their neck out against seniors if their offices are flooded with calls too.

So don’t throw your hands up and think this call isn’t worth it, especially because DFA members aren’t alone when it comes to protecting Social Security. On Election Day, we polled voters nationwide to ask them where they stood and 85 percent said they don’t want to see ANY cuts to Social Security.

That’s right, even people who voted for Republicans to take back Congress said they don’t want any cuts to Social Security.

Make sure Congress gets the message — Call your Senators right now at 1-866-529-7630 and tell them Hands Off Social Security.

Thank you for everything you do.

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America