RNs say billionaires must pay their fair share following passage of legislation that takes from the poorest and gives to the richest

Nurses with National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) will host a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Aug. 28, to discuss strategies to protect Social Security, including the passage of the Social Security Expansion Act to guarantee a dignified retirement for all people.

According to the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, President Trump’s recently passed reconciliation bill will accelerate the insolvency of the Social Security fund to 2032. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates insolvency will lead to an across-the-board benefit cut of around 24 percent for Social Security recipients. By 2045, these projected cuts mean an additional 3.8 million people ages 62 and older will fall into poverty, according to the Urban Institute.

“We have witnessed the passage of one of the ugliest pieces of legislation in the nation’s history that takes from the poorest and gives to the richest,” said Mary Turner, a registered nurse and a president of NNU. “As a nurse, I see firsthand the devastating effects of poverty. I have seen seniors forced to choose between rent, food, or medications. This is not only spiritually crushing, but it’s also dangerous and a great injustice to those who have worked their entire lives and paid into Social Security. It is long past time that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, so that working people can retire with stability and dignity.”

What: Town hall to protect Social Security
When: Thursday, Aug. 28, 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: Carrollwood Cultural Center, 4537 Lowell Road, Tampa, Fla.

Nurses will be joined by members of:

• Third Act Florida
• Florida AFL-CIO
• West Central Florida Labor Council
• AFGE Local 220
• Tampa Democratic Socialists of America
• Progressive Democrats of America
• Medicare for All Florida
• Physicians for a National Health Plan Florida
• Labor Community Alliance South Florida
• Social Security Works
• Hillsborough County Democrats

The town hall will be livestreamed on National Nurses United’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nationalnurses/live_videos

Nurses are calling out Florida’s congressmembers — Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody and Rep. Laurel Lee — for their support of the reconciliation bill that gifted $1.9 trillion in tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and large corporations.

As of April 2025, some 74 million Americans received benefits from Social Security, the vast majority are retired workers or their survivors. In 2022, Social Security made up at least half the total personal income for 63 percent of adult recipients. That same year, 16 million recipients reported that Social Security was their only source of income.

In Florida, it is estimated that 37 percent of households rely on Social Security.  

Nurses say the Trump administration’s deep cuts to Social Security staff make it much harder for seniors and people with disabilities to file claims or get basic information about their benefits. Coupled with the downsizing of staff, they say Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s recent remarks about creating a “back door” for “privatizing Social Security” are clear evidence the Trump administration is trying to push an agenda of privatization.

Nurses are supporting the Social Security Expansion Act, legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle (Ore.). This legislation would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year per recipient and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years. The legislation requires millionaires and billionaires to pay taxes on their business and investment incomes, just as workers currently do on their pay checks.

“Nurses and our allies refuse to stand by and watch our hard-earned Social Security be dismantled by billionaires who want to enrich themselves through privatization,” said Marissa Lee, a registered nurse at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee, Fla. “Instead, we are calling for the expansion of Social Security, so that everyone in the United States receives the benefits they earned and deserve.”  

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.