S/V Sundance: J.D. Vance once called Social Security and Medicare “the biggest roadblocks to any kind of real fiscal sanity.”

Thursday, October 24, 2024

J.D. Vance once called Social Security and Medicare “the biggest roadblocks to any kind of real fiscal sanity.”

Understand this, Faith: Social Security and Medicare are on the ballot.

I'm running for re-election to protect and strengthen these bedrock government promises — and I'm not alone. Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Democrats in Congress are in this fight too.

Let's start with Social Security. Even though it is a lifeline for millions, seniors are still struggling with rising costs. So we can't just protect benefits — we should increase them, too.

I've introduced a bill that would EXPAND Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and fully fund the program all the way to 2096. How? By making the wealthy pitch in a fair share, so everyone can retire with dignity.

Moving over to Medicare: when Democrats had the House, Senate, and White House, we strengthened Medicare by lowering drug costs for seniors — allowing the government to negotiate for lower prices, capping insulin at $35 a month, and limiting out-of-pocket prescription costs to $2,000 a year.

Now Kamala Harris has a plan to extend those cost caps to all Americans — including $35/month insulin across the board — while expanding Medicare's power to negotiate lower drug prices. She also has a proposal to cover home-based care under Medicare, which would be truly life-changing for generations and generations of families.

On the other side, we've got the GOP.

J.D. Vance once called Social Security and Medicare "the biggest roadblocks to any kind of real fiscal sanity."

Donald Trump proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare in every single one of his White House budgets.

Project 2025 lays out a plan to end Medicare's drug-price negotiations and undo the caps on out-of-pocket prescription costs.

And Congressional Republicans have kept rolling out new ideas to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block, including by raising the Social Security retirement age.

You know, I just have to say — here's what I think whenever someone suggests raising the retirement age: there's someone who didn't work construction all their life. Who didn't carry little kids around as a preschool teacher. Who didn't help patients in and out of beds as a nurse.

There's someone we can't trust to have seniors' best interests at heart.

If you're determined to keep Republicans out of power so we can protect and strengthen vital programs like Social Security and Medicare, please chip in any amount to my re-election campaign — every dollar can make a difference in these final days.

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No matter how many pretty promises Republican politicians make to try to win this election, we can't trust them to protect Social Security and Medicare.

After all, the GOP is hyper-focused on handing more tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations.

That's the first part of the classic Republican two-step. First, they slash taxes for the rich while playing dumb about the deficit. "Deficit? What deficit? Tax breaks for the wealthy will pay for themselves!" (Oh, please. As if they were sprinkling fairy dust on the yacht economy, or planting magic beans on Wall Street.)

Second, after their fairy tale doesn't come true and — surprise, surprise — they've blown up the deficit, they can say, "Oh, we now realize that the deficit exists! It's time to pay for those tax breaks by cutting Social Security and Medicare." It's a scam. And we're not falling for it.

They try to make it seem like we don't have a choice. But of course we do. Of course we can stick to our values and keep our promises.

This all comes down to a basic question: who should our government work for?

According to Republican politicians, it's the rich and powerful.

Not if we have anything to say about it, though.

We are fighting to put Washington on the side of working people — and make it possible for every American to retire with dignity and get the care they need.

But to make our plans a reality, we've got to hold the White House, flip the House, and protect our Democratic Senate majority — which means winning our race in Massachusetts.

I will do everything in my power to prevent Republicans from gutting Social Security and Medicare. Part of that work is keeping our Senate majority. Can you chip in $28 or any amount to fuel our fight in the last critical days of this election season?

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth