Stop Social Security Privatization--Again

President Bush and key Republican leaders are promising a new attack on America's most successful family support program if their party retains control of Congress. Last year, we stopped Bush's plans to privatize Social Security—plans that would slash guaranteed retirement benefits, explode the federal deficit, open Social Security to political corruption and make working families' retirement problems worse, not better. We must block Social Security privatization again.

Sign this petition now and let your members of Congress and candidates for the U.S. House and Senate hear that the people whose votes they are seeking oppose Social Security privatization.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Stop Social Security Privatization

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am circulating a petition among my co-workers and neighbors--your constituents--that urges you to oppose privatizing Social Security, which would require cuts in guaranteed benefits, increase the federal deficit, open Social Security to political corruption and possibly increase the retirement age.

Poll after poll shows that the American public does not want Social Security privatized. Our retirement security and Social Security's benefits for survivors and people with disabilities are just too important to destroy in this privatization scheme.

I know you will be under great pressure from the White House and wealthy Wall Street lobbying groups. But the people who elected you and count on you to represent our best interests (rather than Wall Street's) want you to work hard to stop Social Security privatization.

Please protect our retirement security from the huge cuts in guaranteed benefits and massive growth in the federal deficit that Social Security privatization would require.

Signed by:

Campaign Launched:
August 23, 2006


Background Information

Listen! You can hear the drumbeat coming from Republican leaders to privatize Social Security if their party retains control of Congress in the November elections:

  • Last week, President Bush talked about overhauling Social Security and Medicare: “I’m going to continue to work with the Congress and call on the Congress to work with the administration to reform these programs.”
  • On June 27, Bush told the Manhattan Institute, “If we can’t get it done this year, I'm going to try next year.”
  • That same month, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), who’s likely to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee if Republicans retain control of the House, said overhauling Social Security should be the top congressional priority next year.
  • In July, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) declared, “If I’m around in a leadership role come January, we’re going to get serious about this.”

Do your part to stop Social Security privatization.  The petition urges your members of Congress and candidates to strengthen Social Security, rather than privatize it, and to oppose cutting benefits, running up huge new debt or raising the retirement age to pay for privatization.

Last year, we dealt Bush his greatest domestic policy defeat by blocking his attempt to privatize Social Security—which would cut our benefits, place our retirement security at risk, run up massive federal deficits and possibly raise the retirement age. But now Bush and key Republican leaders are at it again.

This is a classic battle of working people taking on big-money interests. Bush’s plans to privatize Social Security would make working families’ retirement problems worse, not better. But it would give billions of dollars in privatized account management fees to rich Wall Street outfits that can afford high-priced lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

We beat the big-money lobbyists last year. Now we have to do it again. When candidates ask for our votes, we have the power to demand they keep the “security” in Social Security.

In this election year, we have the power to tell candidates and members of Congress we expect them to strengthen Social Security, not destroy it through privatization. If they deserve our votes in November, they will.