If you receive disability benefits, PAY ATTENTION: a new House rule introduced this year will cause millions to see a 20% reduction in their benefit payments. Lest you think this is something people on disability can affort, let me remind you that disibility benefits in the U.S. are not enough to keep recepients above the poverty line, so a sudden 20% reduction is only going to make people already poor an unable to provide for themselves that much worse off. It is unconscionable: Social Security is not a welfare program, it is something that WE have paid for through working! Decreasing SSDI benefits is only stealing from the citizenry, it is NOT a reduction in government spending. It's essentially a tax increase on one of the most vulnerable populations in this nation.
Original Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/social-security-disability-trust-fund-projected-to-run-out-of-cash-by-2016/2012/05/30/gJQA3AfH1U_story.html
YOU CAN HELP! Contact your Representative — Contact Your U.S. Representative
If you are unsure what to say, below is a sample letter.
Dear Madame or Sir:
Hello, my name is [put your name here], and I am writing today to ask for your assistance and commitment to ensuring nearly 11 million Americans with disabilities maintain access to the full scope of benefits they have earned and rely on to make ends meet. The SSDI program is NOT a welfare program. It was paid for with MY contributions and by my employers' matching contributions. Blocking or reducing these payments is not fair or ethical, and it places one of the greatest at-risk groups in harm's way. Even though many rely on SSDI for their sole source of income, it is not wnough to keep them above the poverty line. A 20% reduction in benefits is going to create an immediate welfare crisis— where once there was none— for one of the most vulnerable groups.
As you are aware, following the inaugural convening of the 114th Congress, the House of Representatives adopted a rules package which barred the transfer of funds from the general Social Security retirement fund to the disability insurance program (SSDI) - a move employed 12 separate instances by Congress during the last seven decades. Unfortunately, this could not have come at a worse time, as the Social Security Administration projects SSDI insolvency by the end of 2016 without Congressional action, resulting in payment reductions by 20 percent to SSDI beneficiaries.
Contrary to popular belief, people with disabilities have more high school graduates, more college graduates, and more overall degree holders per capita than non-disabled people, so disability is NOT being used as a way to avoid minimum wage work. If poverty traps weren't built into the federal disability programs, most these people could command respectible, middle-class salaries. As things stand, beneficiaries who want to work must choose between the benefits they need and the work they want.
There is an immediate and easy fix: Reverse the House Rules. I, along with a nationwide community of like-minded individuals, call on you to address and remedy this manufactured Social Security crisis. While we certainly believe there is an appropriate time and opportunity for further debate on securing the long-term sustainability of our country’s insurance programs, such a conversation and politically charged debate should not come at the expense of peoples with disabilities lives!
Please do what is right. Change the House Rules immediately and show some of our nation’s most at-risk population that their government won't sacrifice their lives in the cross-fire of partisan politics, that the mismanagement of our nation's economy doesn't need to be paid for by those least able to afford it.
I eagerly await your response.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your Email]
[Street Address - important for voter identification]
[City, Zip]
Original Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/social-security-disability-trust-fund-projected-to-run-out-of-cash-by-2016/2012/05/30/gJQA3AfH1U_story.html
YOU CAN HELP! Contact your Representative — Contact Your U.S. Representative
If you are unsure what to say, below is a sample letter.
Dear Madame or Sir:
Hello, my name is [put your name here], and I am writing today to ask for your assistance and commitment to ensuring nearly 11 million Americans with disabilities maintain access to the full scope of benefits they have earned and rely on to make ends meet. The SSDI program is NOT a welfare program. It was paid for with MY contributions and by my employers' matching contributions. Blocking or reducing these payments is not fair or ethical, and it places one of the greatest at-risk groups in harm's way. Even though many rely on SSDI for their sole source of income, it is not wnough to keep them above the poverty line. A 20% reduction in benefits is going to create an immediate welfare crisis— where once there was none— for one of the most vulnerable groups.
As you are aware, following the inaugural convening of the 114th Congress, the House of Representatives adopted a rules package which barred the transfer of funds from the general Social Security retirement fund to the disability insurance program (SSDI) - a move employed 12 separate instances by Congress during the last seven decades. Unfortunately, this could not have come at a worse time, as the Social Security Administration projects SSDI insolvency by the end of 2016 without Congressional action, resulting in payment reductions by 20 percent to SSDI beneficiaries.
Contrary to popular belief, people with disabilities have more high school graduates, more college graduates, and more overall degree holders per capita than non-disabled people, so disability is NOT being used as a way to avoid minimum wage work. If poverty traps weren't built into the federal disability programs, most these people could command respectible, middle-class salaries. As things stand, beneficiaries who want to work must choose between the benefits they need and the work they want.
There is an immediate and easy fix: Reverse the House Rules. I, along with a nationwide community of like-minded individuals, call on you to address and remedy this manufactured Social Security crisis. While we certainly believe there is an appropriate time and opportunity for further debate on securing the long-term sustainability of our country’s insurance programs, such a conversation and politically charged debate should not come at the expense of peoples with disabilities lives!
Please do what is right. Change the House Rules immediately and show some of our nation’s most at-risk population that their government won't sacrifice their lives in the cross-fire of partisan politics, that the mismanagement of our nation's economy doesn't need to be paid for by those least able to afford it.
I eagerly await your response.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your Email]
[Street Address - important for voter identification]
[City, Zip]
