Dear Dot,

They’re at it again. Billionaires like the Koch brothers, Pete Peterson, Stanley Druckenmiller and others are leading the charge to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

If they succeed, millions of senior citizens, working families, disabled veterans and children will suffer.

We must not allow that to happen. 

My petition, which is to President Obama and the United States Congress, says the following:

No grand bargain in exchange for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

We must not balance the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, children, the sick and the poor.

As Vermont’s senator, I have the honor of serving on the Budget Conference Committee, which will be negotiating a new federal budget over the next few months--where I am fearful that a deal could be struck to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Today, the middle class is disappearing, real unemployment is extremely high, poverty is increasing and working families throughout the country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically.

Meanwhile, the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider and the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well.

When one out of four U.S. corporations pays nothing in federal income taxes, when Bush’s tax breaks for the rich remain in place for many wealthy Americans, when the U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined on defense, there are much fairer and economically sound ways to address the budget than cutting programs desperately needed by the most vulnerable people in our country.

Tell Congress and President Obama: No cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

Let’s be clear: Social Security is not going broke. 

According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security has a surplus today of $2.8 trillion and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible person for the next 20 years.

Social Security has not contributed to the deficit. 

Social Security is funded independently by FICA taxes which are paid by workers and their employers.

The so-called chained consumer price index (CPI), which would recalculate how cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are formulated, is not a “modest tweak.” 

If the chained CPI went into effect today, a senior aged 65 would receive $658 a year less in Social Security benefits when he/she is 75, and $1,100 a year less at age 85.

Further, the average disabled veteran would lose tens of thousands of dollars in benefits over his/her lifetime.

Please stand with me today and demand that Congress and the president oppose any grand bargain which cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

Thank you for your support.

Senator Bernie Sanders