Stop the 50 “Ribble Republicans†from cutting Social Security and Medicare
Our federal government is being held hostage by a band of Republican extremists who want to radically re-shape our country.
While Republicans have made high-profile attempts to defund President Obama’s signature health care law, that’s not their only target.
50 House Republicans, led by Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin , sent a letter to Speaker Boehner urging him to make cuts to Social Security benefits before the debt ceiling is raised and our government re-opened.
Paul Ryan has published an op-ed asking for the same thing: Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in exchange for an increase to the debt ceiling.
Rep. Ribble’s ideas about Social Security reads like a wish list straight out of the Romney/Ryan play book:
• Raising the retirement age
• Slashing annual cost of living adjustments through a new formula known as “Chained CPIâ€
• Means testing for Social Security recipients
Cutting benefits for those most in need is outrageous enough. Demanding them as a precondition for funding the government and ensuring we don’t default on our national debt obligations is both reckless and irresponsible.
Our Social Security system needs to be expanded, not cut. Cost of living adjustments already struggle to keep up with the rising costs that seniors face every day. If these “Ribble Republicans†get their way, everyone who receives Social Security now, or who will receive it in the future, will see less and less in return for what they paid in over their lives.
Speak out today and tell these extremists to stop their hostage-taking.
- Sign the online petitionshttp://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/ribble-republicans-are-coming-for-your-social-security
http://www.strengthensocialsecurity.org/colacut
http://action.usaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=579&track=taf - Tell Congress to stop talking about our EARNED BENEFITS as if Social Security was some kind of welfare program. entitlementreform@mail.house.gov
- Get more representatives to sign on to expanding Social Security
Tom Harkin’s Strengthen Social Security Senate bill 567 has been joined by a House Bill 3116 sponsored by Rep Loretta Sanchez. Only Jim McDermott has so far cosponsored this. Ask our other representatives to do so.
http://www.harkin.senate.gov/press/release.cfm?i=341035 - Check out the following articles
“Cost-saving adjustments to Social Security and Medicare” on the table again?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-day-3-of-shutdown-focus-turns-to-debt-ceiling-deadline/2013/10/03/21f42abc-2c24-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html
Both sides agree that a potential deal could involve replacing deep budget cuts known as the sequester with cost-saving adjustments to Social Security and Medicare, such as using a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living changes.Dean Baker | Will Seniors Have to Pay for President Obama’s Victory on Budget Standoff?
http://www.nationofchange.org/will-seniors-have-pay-president-obama-s-victory-budget-standoff-1381242031
Whacking seniors with a cut to their Social Security and higher medical expenses makes this situation worse, not better. It means that they will have less money to spend, further reducing demand in the economy. - Phone, fax and snail mail contact information for all WA State congressional representatives are further below. Free faxes at http://faxzero.com/ and http://www.gotfreefax.com/. Email, for obvious reasons, is restricted to constituents. Phones and faxes are not. For critical issues, consider adding faxes to your activist arsenal. Sometimes staff will ask your address when you call. If you don’t live in the representative’s district, explain that you are holding all members of Congress responsible for avoiding cuts to our lifeline programs.
A note on free faxes: they must be from a valid email address. When you send a fax, they send it first to your email address and give you a link to click on. Only clicking the link you got by email will send the fax. Limit 2 per day, no more than 3 pages. For $10/month you can send more faxes and more pages. If you want to ramp up your activities as an online activist, and can afford it, this would be a good investment.
Addresses of all Washington State members of US Congress
Senator Patty Murray
448 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
District Office:
2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 2nd Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Senator Maria Cantwell
311 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
District Office:
915 Second Avenue
Suite 512
Seattle, WA 98174
Representative Adam Smith (WA-09)
2264 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
101 Evergreen Building
15 S. Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057
Representative Jim McDermott (WA-07)
1035 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
1809 7th Avenue, Suite 1212
Seattle, WA 98101-1399
Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06)
1429 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 2051
District Office:
950 Pacific Avenue, Suite 1230
Tacoma, WA 98402
District Office:
345 6th St, Suite 500
Bremerton, WA 98337
Representative Suzan DelBene (WA-01)
318 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
Canyon Park Business Center,
22121 17th Ave SE, Bldg E, Suite 220
Bothell, WA 98021
Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02)
2113 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 9F
Everett, WA 98201
District Office:
119 North Commercial Street Suite 1350
Bellingham , WA 98225
Representative Denny Heck (WA-10)
425 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
6000 Main St SW
Lakewood, WA 98499
District Office:
420 College Street SE
Lacey, WA 98503
Representative Dave Reichert (WA-08)
1127 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
22605 SE 56th Street Suite 130
Issaquah, WA 98029
Representative Doc Hastings (WA-04)
1203 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4704
District Office:
2715 Saint Andrews Loop, Suite D
Pasco, WA 99301
District Office:
402 E. Yakima Avenue, Suite 760
Yakima, WA 98901
Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (WA-05)
2421 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
29 South Palouse Street
Walla Walla, WA 99362
District Office:
10 North Post, Suite 625
Spokane, WA 99201
District Office:
555 South Main Street
Colville, WA 99114
Rep. Jaime Hererra-Beutler (WA-03)
1130 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
District Office:
O.O. Howard House (Officers’ Row)
750 Anderson Street, Suite B
Vancouver, WA 98661
District Office:
Chehalis City Hall Building
350 N. Market Blvd
Chehalis, WA 98532
Phones and Faxes of all Washington State members of US Congress
Senator Patty Murray senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Web:http://www.senate.gov/~murray/
http://www.senate.gov/~murray/contact.html
Phone: (202) 224-2621
Fax: (202) 224-0238
District Phone: (206) 553-5545
Fax: (206) 553-0891
Senator Maria Cantwell
Phone: 202-224-3441
Fax: 202-228-0514
District Phone: 206-220-6400
Fax: 206-220-6404
Representative Adam Smith
Web: http://adamsmith.house.gov/contact/
Phone: (202) 225-8901
Fax: (202) 225-5893
District Phone: (425)793-5180
Toll Free: (888) 764-8409
District FAX: (425)793-5181
Representative Jim McDermott
http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/contact.shtml
Phone: (202) 225-3106
Fax: (202) 225-6197
District Phone: (206) 553-7170
District FAX: (206) 553-7175
Representative Derek Kilmer
http://kilmer.house.gov/contact/email-me
Phone: 202-225-5916
Fax:
District Phone: (253) 272-3515
District Phone: (360) 373-9725
Representative Suzan DelBene
https://delbene.house.gov/contact-me
Phone: 202-225-6311
Fax: 202-226-1606
District Phone: (425) 485-0085
District FAX: (425) 485-0083
Representative Rick Larsen
http://larsen.house.gov/contact-rick/email-rick
Phone: 202-225-2605
Fax: 202-225-4420
District Phone: 425-252-3188
District FAX: 425-252-6606
District Phone: 360-733-4500
District FAX: 360-733-5144
Representative Denny Heck
http://dennyheck.house.gov/contact
Phone: 202-225-9740
Fax: 202-225-0129
District Phone: 253-208-6172
District Phone: 360-459-8514
Representative Dave Reichert
https://reichert.house.gov/contact-me/email-me
Phone: 202-225-7761
Fax: 202-225-4282
District Phone: (425) 677-7414
Toll Free: (877) 920-9208
District FAX: (425) 270-3589
Representative Doc Hastings
http://hastings.house.gov/contact/
Phone: 202-225-5816
Fax: 202-225-3251
District Phone: 509-543-9396
District FAX: 509-545-1972
District Phone: (509) 452-3243
District FAX: (509) 452-3438
Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers
https://mcmorrisforms.house.gov/write-to-cathy1
Phone: 202-225-2006
Fax: 202-225-3392
District Phone: 509-684-3481
District FAX: 509-353-2412
District Phone: 509-684-3481
District Phone: 509-529-9358
Representative Jaime Hererra-Beutler
http://herrerabeutler.house.gov/contact/
Phone: 202-225-3536
Fax: 202-225-3478
District Phone: 360-695-6292
District FAX: 360-695-6197