Quote of the Day: “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.” Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen (1896-1969)
Is Congress attempting to bribe seniors with your children’s money? The House of Representatives is considering the “Seniors Protection Act,” which gives recipients of Social Security, and other government retirement or disability programs, a $250 bonus check.
It’s one thing to call for cuts in current benefits, and another thing to suddenly ADD more spending to the ballooning national debt. Seniors, in particular, are wise enough to know the difference. And yet . . .
Apparently, a majority of legislators think that being “generous” with YOUR money – or more accurately, your children’s money — will be rewarded by senior citizens in the 2012 elections.
We suspect (and hope) that most seniors, who voted out incumbents in the recent elections, are insulted by this bribe.
Please send a letter urging Congress to defeat this bill using DownsizeDC.org’s Cut Spending campaign.
The hardwired portion of the letter begins, “Please cut federal spending.”
Here’s how I continued this letter to my representatives in Congress . . .
I want you to slash spending. The electorate wants deficit and debt reduction. They made that clear just a couple of weeks ago. And yet…
HR 5987, the “Seniors Protection Act,” will “compensate” Social Security recipients, retired or disabled, as well as railroad and military pensioners, because they won’t get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year. Apparently, lame-duck Congressmen learned nothing on November 2.
Supporters say it costs “only” $14 billion. But keep in mind that $14 billion is larger than ALL government spending just 70 years ago! http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year1940_0.html#usgs302
That’s how we got into the current fiscal mess. Congress threw $5 billion here, $10 billion there, and now the nation is bankrupt.
Borrowing money is the same as a tax increase on our kids. This bill will cost future families about $140 each, in order to give $250 to each senior citizen.
Does that sound fair to you?
And what’s really insulting is that this redistribution scheme is characterized as “stimulus.”
Congress has been “stimulating” the economy for nearly three years. All these efforts have failed. All we got is more UNEMPLOYMENT and more DEBT.
If you really want to “stimulate” the economy, CUT FEDERAL SPENDING to free up the capital that allows the private sector to thrive.
Do NOT spend even more money that WE don’t have, for your political gain. I insist that you oppose HR 5987!
You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.
And we invite you to share this message with your friends and re-tweet it. http://twitter.com/#!/ddcdispatch
Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
