Still Time to Call and Protect Social Security

The Fiscal Commission has delayed their vote on the debt reduction plan that currently contains several ways to gut Social Security.  Their plan includes raising the retirement age to 69, cutting the annual COLA (Cost-of-Living-Allowance), and cutting benefits overall for middle-income earners by 17% to 36%.

The Strengthen Social Security Campaign - the national coalition working to protect Social Security that Pennsylvania NOW is part of - sent out a notice this morning extending the time to call the US Senate due to this delay.  Here's the message:

We slammed the phones on Capitol Hill yesterday [November 30] thanks to your help. In fact, we overloaded the Capitol Switchboard and the phones went down.

Tens of thousands delivered the message: Hands Off Our Social Security! Members of Congress even called our offices and those of our allies to say that they were hearing the calls loud and clear.

The Fiscal Commission was supposed to vote today on a plan to slash Social Security benefits. But they’re still trying to round up the votes. The vote is now scheduled for Friday.

So you have time to call your U.S. Senators TODAY [December 1] and THURSDAY [December 2] to make your voice heard. Please call 1-866-529-7630 now.

We know many of you called yesterday but could not get through to the offices because the switchboards were jammed. So please try again TODAY.

Call 1-866-529-7630 right now. There will be less phone traffic today, which should allow you to get through.

We can beat these guys. That’s why we will continue fighting all week against the Fiscal Commission. They released their new proposal for slashing Social Security benefits this morning. Once again it disregards the will of the American people. Their plan will raise the retirement age to 69, cut the annual COLA, and cut benefits overall for middle-income earners by 17% to 36%.

We’ll send you a wrap-up on all your great work on Friday. Call your senators right now at 1-866-529-7630.


Thanks for taking action,


The Strengthen Social Security Campaign Team
www.strengthensocialsecurity.org
PS: Call your Senators and invite your friends to call, too. The number is 1-866-529-7630

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Reminder: Tuesday November 30 is Call-In Day to Protect Social Security

Join us tomorrow, Nov. 30, in a National Call Congress Day to fight Social Security cuts! Thanks to those of you who have already pledged to call. It's not too late to commit to participating in this important event.

Call your Senators tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1-866-529-7630, toll-free. The operator will identify your senators by asking for your zip code. Call BOTH of your senators if you have time.  It only takes a minute each. If you only have time for one phone call and you live in Pennsylvania, ask for Senator Bob Casey.  If you have time to make both calls, ask for Senator Casey first.  Then call back through the toll-free number one more time and ask for Senator Arlen Specter.

If you're having trouble getting through on the toll-free number, you can look up your senators' direct lines on National NOW's website.

Here's a sample script:

Hello, my name is [give name].  I am a constituent in [name of your state] and my address is [give your address]. I am calling Senator [Last Name] to urge [her or him] to say no to Social Security benefit cuts. As a women's rights supporter, I am particularly concerned about the millions of women who depend upon Social Security as a person with a disability, as a widow caring for minor children, or as a retiree or spouse of a retiree. Due to unequal pay, time spent out of the workforce for caregiving, and having little to no savings, pensions or investments, women disproportionately rely on Social Security. Please don't cut benefits in any way, including by raising the retirement age. Thank you for your time. 

Background:

The co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have proposed increasing the retirement age to 69 (making us work longer), deeply cutting benefits for middle-class workers and reducing annual Cost of Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!

Social Security is a promise that must not be broken -- we work hard and our payroll taxes pay for it. It belongs to our children, our parents, our neighbors and us. Throughout their lives, women on average are paid less then men, and they often work at part-time jobs or take extended leave from the workforce for raising children and other forms of caregiving. As a result, women are less likely to have pensions, investments or life savings, so they stand to lose the most if these cuts are made.

Help ensure that Social Security will be there, keeping middle-class women out of poverty and not forcing them to work until they are nearly 70.

If you haven't yet, please sign the "Count on Me" pledge at the National NOW website promising to participate in the National Call Congress Day on Nov. 30. Then, forward this blog/e-mail and tell your friends, family and co-workers to add their voices, too. You can also invite your friends to make calls through the Strengthen Social Security Facebook events page. Don't let politicians cut OUR Social Security.

For additional information and talking points, see our blog on November 19, 2010 titled "Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA."

Please TAKE ACTION  and then DONATE. 

We'd really appreciate it and so will all those who depend on Social Security.

Thank you!

Giving Thanks

On behalf of Pennsylvania NOW and the Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund, we hope you have a bountiful and Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy this holiday season with your friends and family and enjoy whatever type of meal you decide to "carve up."

While giving thanks, we also hope you will consider sharing your concerns and thoughts with those who use Social Security to support their families.  Remember that Tuesday, November 30th is National call-in day to or US Senators to not "carve up" Social Security.  I blogged earlier this week about this call-in day.  Information about the action was summarized in the blog entitled "You Can Count on Me! Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security."  And talking points about the proposal to cut Social Security by the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs is located in the blog entitled "Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA." 

We need your voice to be heard this Thanksgiving! Click here to take the Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to add your voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS – DON’T CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY! Once you sign up, you will receive a reminder to call in.

Finally, do you do your holiday shopping on the day after Thanksgiving? This year, you can help Pennsylvania NOW turn "Black Friday" golden -- with a donation to support our work to stop Congress from cutting Social Security benefits.  If you prefer to make a tax-deductible contribution, you can donate here to help make for a golden "Black Friday" for the PA NOW Education Fund as well as for yourself.

Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!

In sisterhood,

Joanne Tosti-Vasey
President
Pennsylvania NOW, Inc. and Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund
P.O. Box 68
Bellefonte, PA 16823

P.S.  If you prefer to write a check to make your golden "Black Friday" donation to either PA NOW or the PA NOW Ed Fund, just write out the check to whichever organization you want to donate to and mail the check to the above address.  Remember, you get a tax deduction by donating to the Pennsylvania NOW Education Fund and you get direct funding for our advocacy work, but no tax deduction, when you donate to Pennsylvania NOW, Inc.

Ten Reasons the Social Security Proposal of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Should be DOA

The Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs’ Social Security proposal:

1. Deeply cuts the benefits of middle-class families. Benefits for retirees, survivors and disabled workers will be cut between 17% and 36% for young people entering the workforce today, affecting those earning an average of $43,000 (17%) to $107,000 (36%) a year over their working lives, according to the Social Security Chief Actuary. The proposed cuts would apply to retirees, disabled workers and their families, children who have lost parents, and widows and widowers.
2. Closes Social Security’s long-range funding gap primarily by cutting already low benefits, rather than by raising taxes on those who can most afford to pay. Ninety-two percent of Social Security’s long-range funding gap is closed by cutting promised benefits. Instead, this gap could be closed, as most Americans want, by requiring those employees (and their employers) who make more than $107,000 a year to pay Social Security taxes on all their wages, as the rest of us do who earn less.
3. Raises the retirement age to 69. This is a 13% benefit cut on top of the 13% cut already made when the retirement age was increased from 65 to 67, according to the Social Security Administration.
4. Raises the early retirement age to 64. Most Americans claim Social Security benefits before age 64, even though the benefits are currently reduced by as much as 25% when they do so. That’s usually because they work in physically demanding jobs, have health problems, or can no longer find work. Raising the early retirement age will shut them out of the system when they are most vulnerable, potentially forcing them to seek disability benefits or welfare. 
5. Discriminates against lower-wage workers by raising the retirement age. Upper-income Americans are living longer. But in recent years the life expectancy of lower-income men has increased only slightly and the life expectancy of lower-income women declined. In effect, the proposal says to lower wage workers that they must work longer because the rich are living longer!
6. Reduces the annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries. The proposal would reduce the purchasing power of benefits by 3.7% after 10 years of receiving benefits and by 6.5% after 20 years, according to the Social Security Chief Actuary.
7. Hurts current retirees, contrary to promises made by the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs. The change in the COLA calculation would affect all beneficiaries, not just retirees, starting in 2012.  If anything, the COLA should be increased because it does not adequately take account of skyrocketing medical costs, which hit seniors and people with disabilities hardest.
8. Breaks faith with our nation’s veterans and service members. Forty-three percent of veterans receive Social Security. They or their families will see their Social Security disability benefits cut deeply if they are seriously injured in combat, their survivors’ benefits cut substantially if they die in combat, and their retirement benefits cut significantly just like all other Americans.
9. Harms our grandchildren the most. The younger a person is the deeper the cuts because of the increase in the retirement age and the changes in the benefit formula.
10. Breaks Social Security’s promise with Americans. Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to the program. The proposal breaks that promise.

Click here for a more detailed analysis of the Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs’ proposal.

You Can Count on Me! Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME!


Tell Congress: Don’t Carve Up Social Security

The Co-Chairs of the National Fiscal Commission have proposed carving up Social Security like a Thanksgiving turkey. They want to increase the retirement age to 69 – making us work longer, deeply cut benefits for middle-class workers and reduce annual Cost of Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!

Join Pennsylvania NOW, the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, and thousands of Americans in a National Call Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30—CAN WE COUNT ON YOU?

We need your voice to be heard! Click here to take the Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to add your voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS – DON’T CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY!

Social Security is a promise that must not be broken—we’ve worked hard for it and paid taxes for it. It belongs to our children, our parents, our neighbors and ourselves.

ACT NOW! Your voice needs to be heard. Click here to take the  Strengthen Social Security Coalition's “Count on Me” pledge to join the National Call Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30.

Call your United States Senators and your Representative. Tell them not to cut Social Security. Help ensure that your Social Security will be there for your children and your grandchildren.