Protect Social Security

Submitted by oldAdministrator on

Keep Up the Pressure

As Congress and the White House get closer to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling that could include devastating cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, our lawmakers need to continue to hear your voice.

Call Your Senators Now
1-866-251-4044 (Toll Free)

Tell them:

  • No increase in the eligibility age for Medicare or Social Security
  • No cuts to Social Security's COLA
  • No Social Security payroll tax holiday

Thanks to all of you who have already made calls. Please, keep up the pressure and call your Senator today to demand these essential priorities are protected.

Watch the video:

Take Action

Why Social Security is Under Attack

Some powerful figures in Washington are pushing a plan to make deep cuts in retirement security for RNs and other working Americans.

Our voices are needed to stop this attack.

In December, 2010 a proposal was considered by the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, headed by conservative former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, and Democrat Erskine Bowes, a longtime Wall Street investment banker. Their proposal:

  • Raise the retirement age to 69, which will force nurses and others in high stress and demanding jobs to delay retirement – at risk to themselves and their patients.
  • Slash retirement benefits by up to 35 percent for middle income earners.
  • Reduce Social Security's annual cost of living adjustments.
  • Other cuts in healthcare benefits, including cuts in Medicare and higher healthcare fees for our nation's veterans.

Though this proposal fell short of final recommendation, it is expected that many, if not all of these cuts, will be introduced in Congress this year.

What's missing from their recommendations?

No end to the tax loopholes that enabled corporate giants like Bank of America and Citigroup to pay no federal taxes last year. No end to the Bush administration tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. No end to the waste in lives and costs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Virtually all the sacrifice is expected from retirees and working people, and our veterans.

Far too many nurses have worked for years with substandard pension programs and inadequate compensation. Only in recent years have many made improvements in retirement security that are now threatened by these unwarranted and disgraceful proposals.

Social Security is not going broke. It is funded through payroll deductions, not the federal budget, and has a surplus expected to rise to $4.3 trillion by the next decade.

What you can do:

Tell them:

  • Protect Social Security. No cuts in benefits for RNs and other working people.
  • Strengthen Social Security. Raise the income ceiling on payroll taxes for a more equitable system.

Social Security background points:

  • Social Security was created as a response to the Great Depression of the 1930s. It has protected tens of millions of Americans from abject poverty and provided dignity and security for seniors, people on disability and others. It is possibly the most successful reform in American history.
  • With the current recession still far too widespread, and many private employers reducing pension benefits, Social Security remains critically important for all Americans -- cutting it now would be a disaster.
  • For a third of Social Security recipients, Social Security accounts for 90% of their retirement income. More than half of those on Social Security rely on it for more than half of their income.
  • Social Security is not going broke. It is funded through payroll deductions, not the federal budget, and has a surplus expected to rise to $4.3 trillion by the next decade.
  • The best way to strength Social Security would be to increase the income ceiling on payroll tax – and put people back to work which would significantly strengthen the Social Security trust fund.
  • Registered nurses lift on average 1.8 tons every day. Most bedside nurses experience chronic back pain, and often face larger patient loads than they can reasonably handle. Most nurses cannot work longer than they already do and would be especially harmed by increasing the retirement age.
  • Don’t make Social Security or Medicare the scapegoat for high deficits. The best way to cut deficits would be to end the extensive corporate tax loopholes and end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to penalize working Americans.