May Educate Congress
This month the same letter will be delivered to both Senate and House Members opposing the Balanced Budget Amendment. While this amendment failed in the House last month, Mitch McConnell has said he would introduce it in the Senate.
The House of Representatives recently rejected HJ Res 2, (The Balanced Budget Amendment), a dangerous bill that would have forced automatic cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and more.
Congressional lawmakers understand that cutting these programs to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy is hugely unpopular. To obscure their true intentions, they are seeking to advance this agenda through a radical and dangerous means—by amending the U.S. Constitution.
Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising a vote in the Senate on this very same so-called balanced budget amendment (BBA). If the bill passes the Senate, it could embolden extremists in the House to bring the bill up for another vote.
This amendment would jeopardize our retirement security and the security of veterans, people with disabilities, children and surviving spouses.
Worse, a federal balanced-budget amendment could be calamitous for jobs and the economy because it would likely lead to economically damaging cutbacks at the very times when government spending is most needed. If these cutbacks were to occur during a downturn in the economy, it could turn rough patches into recessions and recessions into depressions.
Republicans have already tried unsuccessfully to cut trillions from our earned benefits and other critical services to pay for their massive tax breaks for the rich and corporations. This BBA is a dangerous underhanded attempt to enshrine those cuts into our Constitution. This political stunt by conservative leaders threatens the financial and retirement security of millions of Americans. Social Security has a $2.9 trillion surplus. This is the American people’s money and not part of the federal budget. But if this amendment passes, it would prevent Social Security from using that surplus to pay benefits, leading to massive cuts.