How We Killed Social Security Cuts

How is that crazy proposal to cut Social Security benefits?

Food for worms. Kicked the bucket. Bought the farm. Six feet under. Dead dead dead.

What do I mean?

On April 5, the New York Times ran this disturbing headline:

"Obama Budget to Include Cuts to Programs in Hopes of Deal"

But here are some more recent headlines:

Red-State Democrats Buck Obama On Social Security Cuts, Huffington Post
Ryan Sees No 'Grand Bargain' on Budget, Wall Street Journal
Republicans Sean Duffy, Phil Gingrey Oppose Obama's Social Security Cut, Huffington Post
Richard Trumka: The 'grand bargain' is a dead end, The Cap Times
Deficit Deal Even Less Likely, Wall Street Journal
No Push for a Grand Bargain on the Deficit?, Fox Business News

And who led the charge? Moi, as John Kerry would say. Consider this quote from the lead article in the New York Times on April 10, just after Obama's budget was released:

"The A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, Richard Trumka, in a blistering statement, called the proposed changes "wrong and indefensible." An e-mail from Representative Alan Grayson, a liberal from Florida, was headlined "President’s Budget Breaks Promise to Seniors."

We won.

But this proposal, like Dracula, will come back from the dead. Wall Street is always hungry for money, and the Social Security Trust Fund has a lot of it. For now, though, we've beaten them.

How did we do it?

We organized. We called. We e-mailed. We got an army of more than three million people together to say no. With one voice. We got more than 45 Democratic Members of Congress to commit that they would not vote for legislation that includes these cuts. Real Democrats, not squishy, sort of, kind of, Democrats. Then we began to peel off Republicans.

But we need more than a stop sign. We need a green light towards a better life for all Americans.

Over the course of the next month or so, I'm going to be laying out an agenda for real Democrats. Not half a loaf, but a loaf and a half.

Get excited. True Blue Democrats -- we are coming.

Courage,

Congressman Alan Grayson