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You can bet your senators will never have to eat cat food. But that may not be true for seniors, low income people and other at-risk folks if theyget their way.
There's a powerful movement in Washington, D.C. demanding big cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Thursday that those "entitlement" programs should be slashed to bring the budget under control, instead of raising taxes on the wealthy who have benefited from his bailouts.
Now, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Senator Dianne Feinstein is preparing to help Bernanke achieve his goal.
Senator Feinstein is trying to ram through far-reaching legislation that would lead to major cuts to Social Security and Medicare -- before there can be any debate or the public even knows what is going on.
The Senate should be working to expand health care programs and aid to those suffering from the recession, instead of pulling the rug out from under them. We've saved Social Security once before in 2005. Now we need to step up and save it, and Medicare, from Dianne Feinstein.
That's why the Courage Campaign is teaming up with CREDO Action to stop Senator Feinstein before it's too late. Will you join us in demanding that Sen. Feinstein stop trying to undermine Social Security and Medicare and start expanding health care? Please sign our joint action now:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopSenatorFeinstein
It gets worse. Sen. Feinstein is holding the economy hostage to force Congress to cave in before the American public has a chance to find out what's going on.
Sen. Feinstein has joined with Republicans and conservative Democrats to demand Congress cede special legislative power to an unelected commission convened to slash government spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The commission would be able to offer legislation in both chambers of Congress that could not be filibustered or amended and that would pass on simple majority vote.
To ensure this comes to a vote, Sen. Feinstein is threatening to create a new financial panic. Because the U.S. government has already hit its debt ceiling, Congress must pass a law to raise it or else the government will default on its debt, causing economic havoc.
The threat? Sen. Feinstein has publicly declared that she will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless other Democrats agree to create what some are calling the "cat food commission" -- a backdoor attempt to make critical cuts to Social Security and Medicare that will endanger the lives of our nation's senior citizens.
Please join the Courage Campaign and CREDO Action today and tell Sen. Feinstein that she needs to get her priorities straight -- and place the needs of senior citizens over devastating cuts to the the programs that safeguard their health and well-being:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopSenatorFeinstein
Your pressure on Sen. Feinstein this summer, along with Courage and CREDO, helped force her to support the public option. Now you can help save Social Security and Medicare by applying that pressure again.
Thank you for helping us push for progressive change in California and across the country.
Robert Cruickshank
Public Policy Director, Courage Campaign
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