U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to urge you to oppose the creation of any commission that would circumvent Congress’ regular order for considering Social Security and Medicare changes.  The National Committee is a grassroots advocacy and educational organization dedicated to preserving and strengthening the programs which are vitally important to the well-being of our nation’s seniors.

As Congress grapples with the implications of a federal debt currently topping $33 trillion, pressure by fiscal conservatives inevitably turns to finding “savings” in Social Security, even though this critical social insurance program for America’s workers does not contribute a single penny to the national debt.

Finding “savings” in Social Security is code for cutting Social Security, which poses significant political risks to elected officials who vote to cut the already modest, earned benefits of workers contributing to this extremely popular program.  This is why the notion of creating a commission to advance unpopular benefit cuts repeatedly resurfaces, in the hopes a bipartisan commission could help shield proponents of cutting the program from political accountability.  Such a commission would provide a patina of “bipartisanship” to benefit-cutting proposals which have historically been the province of those who oppose social insurance.

Every working American has a tremendous stake in the future of this earned benefit program, not only as the foundation of their own retirement security but also as critical support for their families in the case of severe disability or the death of the family breadwinner.  The benefits paid by Social Security are the cornerstone of many local economies, especially in rural areas with little economic growth.

Social Security must undergo changes both to ensure its long-term solvency as well as to enhance benefits whose value has eroded in the half-century since Social Security was last improved. However, the future of this critical program must not and should not be determined as part of a budget cutting exercise.  Instead, the committees with jurisdiction over Social Security and Medicare should hold hearings, develop legislation that will strengthen the economic and health security for the American people rather than budget cutting as its primary mission, and Congress should vote on any consensus package produced under the regular rules of the House and Senate.

Commissions designed to squeeze every possible dollar of savings out of Social Security without consideration for the adequacy of benefits during their deliberations serve as a vehicle for enacting deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare that could never pass Congress on their own because of their unpopularity with the voting public.

Appointing commissions as a way to “kick the can down the road” on challenging issues is nothing new for Congress.  Make no mistake about it, the commissions being proposed today bear little or no resemblance to these ineffective commissions of the past.  Today’s commissions are supercharged – designed to rush their recommendations through Congress so they can be enacted before the American people have a chance to study them and understand how they would be affected.

Fast-track commissions should be especially problematic for those institutionalists in the Senate who support the right of individual Senators to slow down legislation in order to provide time for a consensus to develop.  The House of Representatives already has rules in place which allow its majority to fast-track legislation, prohibit amendments and limit debate.  The current commission legislation would impose similar procedures upon the Senate when considering bills implementing any recommendations by the commission.  The Senate’s rules of debate are among the few legislative processes protecting Social Security from potentially devastating cuts – fast-tracking commission-backed benefit cuts would destroy that protection and set a precedent for the future that would be difficult to reverse.

The National Committee believes Social Security and Medicare must be reformed, their benefits updated to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s beneficiaries and their financial solvency assured for future generations.  But the process to achieve that goal must be deliberative and fully accessible to the public.  Commissions on steroids forcing changes to hard-earned benefits will not fool American voters – President Biden has called them “death panels” for Social Security and Medicare for good reason.

For that reason, I urge you to oppose any commission that would be created to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Sincerely,

Max Richtman
President and CEO

For additional reading, please see:  https://www.ncpssm.org/documents/letters-118th/testimony-for-house-budget-committee-fiscal-commission-hearing/ and https://www.ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/ny-times-op-ed-attempts-to-divide-the-generations-to-undermine-social-security-medicare/