Social Security Should Be Off the Table

Washington, DC – Reacting to news reports that President Obama has put Social Security cuts on the table in deficit reduction negotiations, Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future issued the following statement:

“Social Security should not be on the table for deficit reduction. Social Security has its own dedicated source of revenue and it contributes not a dime to the deficit. It is the most successful program in the history of government -- protecting people who have worked their whole lives and deserve to retire in dignity.

As the results of the NY-26 special election showed, voters do not want politicians cutting Medicare and Medicaid in order to preserve tax breaks for billionaires. Any politician of either party that messes with Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid will feel the wrath of voters in the next election. We sent 50,000 signatures to the budget negotiators demanding that they not touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Americans do not want the bedrock programs that support their parents to be part of a deficit reduction package.

“If deficit reduction is the goal of the talks, the best way to reduce the deficit is to put the millions of Americans who are out of work back to work.”