Sign the petition: Republicans don’t want you to retire

 

Dear Friend,

Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Social Security.

They’re now working on a bill that would increase the full Social Security retirement age from 67 to 70, which would significantly cut benefits for all workers.¹

These cuts would be disastrous. Nearly everyone over 65 years old in the United States receives a Social Security check. The program has been extraordinarily effective, and without it, millions of American seniors would fall into abject poverty.²

As Republicans attack Social Security, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren recently introduced legislation to protect and expand the program by forcing the ultra rich to finally pay their fair share.³ Dubbed the 'Social Security Expansion Act,' the measure would put an additional $2,400 in beneficiaries’ pockets each year and ensure the program is fully funded through 2096. Huge majorities of Americans support making the wealthy pay more into Social Security, with a recent poll showing even 79% of Republicans in favor.⁴

We need to send a clear message to Congress that they must fully reject any and all Republican attacks on Social Security. Instead, Congress must pass the Sanders-Warren plan to expand the program.

Sign the petition: Congress must pass the Social Security Expansion Act!

ADD YOUR NAME

Republicans’ plan to increase the Social Security retirement age would reduce benefits for all workers. The "Social Security retirement age" refers to the age at which full benefits are paid. Workers can file earlier and collect reduced monthly benefits, or they can file later and get larger monthly benefits. Raising the retirement age would mean that early retirees get a heavier reduction, and later retirees would get a smaller bonus. Researchers estimate that raising the retirement age to 70 would reduce overall Social Security payments for all retirees by 20%. This would most prominently impact working class people who on the whole have a lower life expectancy and therefore have fewer years to receive their benefits.⁵

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and independent Senator Angus King are leading the effort to raise the Social Security retirement age. Republicans throughout Congress have long supported the idea. Just last year, the Republican Study Committee — the largest Republican group in the House, with over 150 members — released a plan that would increase the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare.¹ Republicans feigned outrage when President Biden called out their plans to cut Social Security during his State of the Union address, but their policy proposals show their true colors.

Current Social Security payments are already woefully inadequate given the soaring cost of living, and slashing them further would send millions into poverty.¹ Senator Sanders noted that, “At a time when nearly half of older Americans have no retirement savings and almost 50% of our nation’s seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $25,000 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security.” That’s why the Sanders-Warren plan would not only preserve current benefits, but in fact increase them by $2,400 a year.³

The Social Security Expansion Act would pay for these increases by forcing the ultra rich to pay more into the program. Currently, a billionaire pays the same amount of money into Social Security as someone making $162,000 per year. That’s because of the “Social Security payroll tax cap,” which mandates that income over $160,200/year is not subject to Social Security taxes. That means that millionaires and billionaires are paying a lower percentage of their income into Social Security than someone making $31,000/year, the average income in the United States.⁶ The Social Security Expansion Act would end this injustice by lifting the Social Security payroll tax cap.

Congress must reject Republicans’ disastrous, unpopular plans to cut Social Security, and instead should focus on advancing the Sanders-Warren bill to fully fund and expand our most vital social program.

Add your name: Keep Republicans’ hands off of Social Security!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the team at Demand Progress.

DONATE

Sources:

1. Truthout, "Republicans Are Working on Making 70 the New Social Security Retirement Age,” February 28, 2023.
2. Center on Budget Priorities and Policies, “Social Security Lifts More People Above the Poverty Line Than Any Other Program,” April 19, 2022.
3. Truthout, “Sanders-Warren Plan Would Expand Social Security by Taxing the Rich,” February 14, 2023.
4. University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation, “Large Majorities of Republicans and Democrats Agree on Steps to Drastically Reduce Social Security Shortfall,” September 15, 2022.
5. Center on Budget Priorities and Policies, “Raising Social Security’s Retirement Age Cuts Benefits for All Retirees,” January 20, 2016.
6. The Lever, “Large Majorities of Republicans and Democrats Agree on Steps to Drastically Reduce Social Security Shortfall,” January 24, 2023.

---