Social Security Advocates Wage Early Fight Against Cuts

[Passages]

As Republicans discuss slashing earned benefits, Social Security Works vows to publicly target any Democrat who joins the congressional DOGE caucuses.

by David Dayen December 10, 2024

The leading advocacy group for protecting Americans’ Social Security benefits has drawn a red line for Democrats, anticipating a fight over the landmark social insurance program not unlike George W. Bush’s attempts to privatize the system in 2005.

Social Security Works, led by veterans of those fights, is warning about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the quasi-advisory organization co-chaired by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which has the goal of cutting as much as $2 trillion from federal budgets. The organization sees DOGE as a Trojan horse to cutting Social Security and the two biggest public health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid.

In a preemptive strike, Social Security Works has told Democrats that it will publicly target anyone who joins the congressional DOGE caucuses, which were established by House and Senate Republicans to assist Musk and Ramaswamy. The lone Democrat who has joined the caucus, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), will be seeing Social Security Works–funded billboard trucks that say “Jared Moskowitz is helping the richest man in the world cut YOUR Social Security” in his district.

There are hundreds of informal caucuses on Capitol Hill, but given DOGE’s need for Congress to authorize most of its spending reduction proposals, and the fact that Social Security and health programs are among the only areas of the federal budget large enough to meet Musk and Ramaswamy’s goals, social insurance advocates believe these caucuses to be ground zero for any plots to roll back benefits, raise the retirement age, or other cuts.
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-10-social-security-advocates-wage-early-fight-against-cuts/

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. The 2026 midterms should be very entertaining. Nt

[mobeau69]

2. Moskowitz likely joined for recon. If an ally can infiltrate the bastards war planning sessions that could be

beneficial.