Unless members of Congress take urgent and decisive action now, millions of beneficiaries of the Social Security pension program will face a 25% cut in their retirement benefits in the not-too-distant future.

As is common knowledge, the Federal Government's primary program to combat poverty among seniors, children who are left without their parents at an early age, and the program that extends disability benefits to veterans of the armed forces is Social Security.

The severity of the impending cuts can no longer be ignored, as these drastic reductions themselves reflect the failure of Congress and US presidents to take action over the past 40 years.

The Senate Budget Committee recently debated this very issue; Senator Lindsey Graham, the influential chairman of the commission, even went so far as to officially declare—and I quote—“Our social security system is the most important program to prevent people from falling into poverty.” However, after again analyzing various possible solutions, the members of the commission did not take any concrete measures and adjourned the session.

It is essential to emphasize the previous statement: the current crisis that threatens the solvency of Social Security is not new; It has been brewing for more than 40 years. Therefore, it is the obligation of all to inform the residents of this great nation about this dangerous bomb of social impact, and its catastrophic consequences—for millions of elderly or disabled citizens and minors—if the United States Congress, and the President, are not able to act before it is too late.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, at the current rate of depletion of Social Security funds, within 6 to 6 1/2 years we will see an overall cut of between 20% and 25% for all current and future beneficiaries.

According to experts inside and outside the Social Security program, a loss of this magnitude will represent an average reduction for each beneficiary of $500.00 per month, which will mean for each person a cut to their pension of $6,000.00 per year.

Furthermore, of the more than 70 million beneficiaries, 23 million depend entirely on their monthly social security pension for their subsistence.

For this reason, the community organization Centro de Acción Social Autónomo (C.A.S.A. HGT) announced this week the start of a permanent civic participation campaign to pressure members of Congress to address this crucial issue.

The policy of indefinitely postponing the solution to the Social Security problem, in the hope that some future Congress will find a way out of this highly explosive situation, can no longer be accepted.

Juan José Gutiérrez is the Director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition. José Vera is an experienced provider of community services related to Social Security and member of the Autonomous Social Action Committee (CASA-HGT).

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