National Nurses United

Social Security Final_FNL with art 7/30/10 6:09 PM Page 15 Women represent 57 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries age 62 and older and approximately 69 percent of beneficiaries age 85 or older. — But don't expect to hear these facts from the Commission, which may be bipartisan but is anything but neutral. Both the chairs have already shown antipathy toward Social Security and Medicare. As a senator, Simpson previously tried to cut Social Security benefits by reducing the cost-of-living provision, and once attacked the American Association of Retired People because of its defense of Medicare, threatening to launch a Congressional investigation of the senior advocacy group. More recently, Simpson—who sits on BP's External Advisory Council—chastised seniors for "howling and bitching" about potential benefit changes that would only affect future generations of retirees. Democratic Co-chair Bowles, a venture capitalist and a member of the boards of both Morgan Stanley and General Motors has said of the commission, "We're going to mess with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security" because otherwise "America will turn into a second-rate power." Noting the co-chairs' corporate ties, Ross said, "Wall Street has been salivating for years looking at the money in the Social Security system." Equally troubling, writes Greider, is that Social Security's detractors in the business community have found allies in both parties. "This issue is a seminal fight with the potential to scramble party politics," he writes. "If Democrats can no longer be trusted to defend Social Security, who can be? The people from left to right overwhelmingly support the program (88 percent), and a majority (66 percent) believe benefits should be increased now to cope with the loss of jobs and savings in the Great Recession." "Citizens can win this fight if they mobilize smartly," Greider continues. "We can do this by arousing public alarm right now, while members of Congress face a treacherous election and before Obama can work out his deal." What Greider suggests is happening. National Nurses United is working with a coalition of organizations, including the AFL-CIO, the National Organization for Women, and the Campaign for America's Future among others, to oppose any effort to scale back the two programs. NNU has launched a petition drive to insist that candidates from both major parties running in the November election promise now to leave Social Security and Medicare alone. The petition reads in part, "Whereas we wish to pass on to our children the rock-solid security that current retirees enjoy, and we wish to pass on to our children a society where we are all in it together and where we keep our promises to senior citizens, people with disabilities, and widows and orphans... We the undersigned demand that you sign the attached pledge indicating that you oppose, and will work to defeat, ANY cuts to Social Security and Medicare now and in the future." McVay says nurses have a special impulse to be protective of the two programs. "The awful irony of all this is that the people in congress who are plotting all this behind our backs have for themselves, just for being elected, the best guaranteed retirement and medical benefits available. These people are so removed from reality, so removed from the way people actually live," she says. "The RN is not removed from JUNE 2010 reality. Most of us see it up close and feel it all the time. Moreover, in this recent period, many of us have seen our friends and relatives lose their pensions, their homes or their jobs. It really hits home." Responding to critics of "entitlement" programs like Social Security and Medicare, McVay says, "Well, it's true. We are entitled. We pay into the system and we are entitled to benefit from it." Meanwhile, the commission continues to meet privately, with options under consideration rumored to include cutting Social Security benefits, raising payroll taxes, or raising the retirement age. Some political observers and consumer activists in the nation's capital say there is little chance that the commission will propose major changes in Medicare, after the brutal Congressional battle over healthcare reform. Others say don't bank on it. Opponents of Medicare and Social Security don't need an excuse to go after the two programs, critics say. They've been at it since they were enacted. Any proposal the commission makes to Congress will have to be approved by 14 of its 18 members—a hurdle that will not be difficult to overcome, say some analysts who have surveyed the views of the commission members. Six panel members were appointed by the president, the others by the two parties' leaders. Nurse activists say they don't see why Social Security should be on the table at all and they worry about any scheme that would privatize the program— in whole or in part. There is no reason, they say, to touch the program unless it is to strengthen and extend it. Problems with Medicare, they contend, stem principally from the escalating cost of medical care. It's a crisis that Congressional leaders ignored when they took the popular proposal for a single-payer,"Medicare for All" system off the table during the recent healthcare reform debateand one which must still be urgently tackled. The AFL-CIO and its President, Richard Trumka, have consistently opposed cutbacks in Social Security. "Creating the false impression that Social Security is a principal contributor to the growth of budget deficits, or lumping Social Security together with Medicare as part of a general 'entitlements crisis' is a sleight-of-hand designed to build public support for the unpopular Wall Street agenda of cutting Social Security benefits and/or privatizing the program," Trumka testified before the Commission in June. "We cannot allow deficit reduction to be used as an excuse for either. In fact, Social Security should be strengthened to compensate for the decline of traditional pensions and for the stock market losses of retirement savings plans." One thing is clear: Organized labor and its allies are in for a big fight on Social Security and Medicare, and the outcome of that debate will impact countless future generations of Americans. NNU leaders say nurses will be in the forefront of the struggle. "We must defend Medicare and Social Security," said Ross. "There needs to be a great hue and cry. That's the thing we know works, and it has to be spearheaded by the labor movement. We cannot be lulled into thinking there is nothing we can do." Carl Bloice is a freelance writer in San Francisco. W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N AT I O N A L N U R S E 15

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