Michigan Advocates Gather to Call On Rep. John James To Not Gut Social Security Benefits

Michigan Advocates Gather to Call On Rep. John James To Not Gut Social Security Benefits

Congressman John James’s Committee is Proposing to Raise the Retirement Age, Impacting Millions of Michiganders 

MACOMB, Michigan— Today, Michigan Families for Fair Care , Social Security Works, Michigan Liberation, and Mothering Justice, held a rally outside of Congressman John James’ office urging him to not support raising the age of retirement for Michiganders. 

Earlier this year, House Republicans proposed a budget that would include billions of dollars’ worth of cuts to Social Security, vastly reducing the quality of benefits for retirees. The Republican Study Committee, of which Rep. John James is a member, proposed a budget that favors the wealthiest members of our society, while disregarding the growing needs of our seniors. 

“Michiganders are sick of having their needs disregarded in favor of special interests and the ultra-wealthy,” said Steve Lawson, Executive Director of Michigan Families for Fair Care. “Rep. James owes his constituents answers for his committee’s plan to place the future of millions of Americans at risk. We live during a time when inflation has placed an undue burden on families across the country, and Michiganders need to trust their elected officials to bring down the costs of basic goods, not raise the barrier of entry for fiscal stability.” 

Millions of Michiganders receive Social Security benefits. James’s committee proposed a total overhaul of a vital service that is crucial for senior citizens to get by. Gutting Social Security would crush the middle class, and Michiganders deserve to know if that is James’s plan. 

“Rep. James is happy to wage a war on seniors alongside his Republican majority. He voted to decimate Social Security with catastrophic cuts that would have shuttered thousands of Social Security offices,” said Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works. “And in his budget as part of the Republican Study Committee, they propose to slash Social Security benefits for the middle class and to raise the retirement age.”

"It is deeply disappointing that we have a Congressman who seems willing to betray our seniors and elders who have paid into Social Security for decades,” said Anastasey Manolatos, Organizing Director of For Our Future Michigan. “Or, even worse, as a Congressman who is a veteran, betrays fellow veterans by supporting legislation that diminishes funding for veterans' benefits they've more than earned by serving our country. We need representation in CD 10 that is for the People of this district and not for the predatory special interests that Congressman James has made it clear that he is beholden to."

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