Protect Social Security

Legislative Advocacy, Political Action

It should be easier for working people to claim the Social Security benefits they’ve earned with every paycheck, not harder. So why has the Trump administration proposed a new rule that’s designed to rip benefits away from hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities?

While Social Security is best known as a retirement program, disability and survivor benefits are equally essential. That’s why we’re rallying our allies across the country to fight back against this proposed rule change and save the lives of thousands of Americans.

Click here to submit an official comment and stop the Trump administration’s cruel policy before it’s implemented.

We know what the effects of the Trump proposal would be because President Reagan implemented a very similar benefit cut back in the 1980s. And Reagan’s policy ripped away the benefits of nearly 200,000 Americans with disabilities.

The Trump administration’s proposal would require millions of Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries to re-prove their eligibility for benefits as often as every six months—far more frequently than is currently the case.

The New York Times reported that during the Reagan administration, “people with obvious physical and mental disabilities” lost their benefits “without having been interviewed” by the Social Security Administration. This led to the loss of 21,176 people who relied on their Social Security benefits to survive.

And, while Reagan was eventually forced to reverse his attack on Social Security after massive public outcry, the Trump administration is attempting to bring back this cruel policy with no regard for history or human life.

There is no justification for this policy. The United States already has some of the strictest eligibility criteria for disability benefits in the world. More than half of all claims are denied.

Join the Oregon AFL-CIO and our allies in fighting back against the Trump administration’s brazen cruelty. Submit an official comment to the Social Security Administration to oppose the proposed rule change that will result in hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries losing their earned Social Security benefits.

President Trump himself might not be a diligent student of history, but his advisers—like Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff—know exactly what they are doing.

We must stop the Trump administration’s plan. The Social Security Administration is collecting comments on the proposal until the end of this month. Click here to submit your official comment today.