Democrats at the state and federal level are banding together to fight what they’re calling “devastating” proposed cuts to Social Security.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said if the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to Social Security go through, Americans will suffer.
"If we go back to that time when these safety nets don't exist, more seniors are going to die in poverty,” she said. “Society's going to have to help them. We're going to have to help them. We're going to have to do whatever it takes."
Gillibrand said part of doing whatever it takes is spreading the word about the administration’s plan to cut 7,000 Social Security workers and shut down some offices.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calls the cuts a direct attack on New York’s seniors and said billionaires in the federal government don’t understand what’s at stake.
"One of them, the Commerce Secretary, who's a billionaire, said, well, if his mother-in-law missed a check, she wouldn't miss it. Yeah, that's true for anyone here who has a billionaire son-in-law, but if you don't, you need that check, and these people are cruel and heartless," Schumer said.
Schumer’s office said in central New York, 197,407 people receive $338,701,000 in benefits each month. In the North Country, 114,890 people receive $178,568,000 each month.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, said that’s money New Yorkers have earned through years of paying into the system. And she’s calling on Republican members of Congress in New York to fight back.
"Go into the Speaker's office, demand that there would be changes or you will hold up President Trump's agenda,” Hochul said. “You hold the power, and if you don't use that power, then you are complicit in this attack on the American people."
President Trump and top Republicans have repeatedly promised that the administration will not cut Social Security benefits. However, Schumer and other lawmakers said access to those benefits is already being affected.
"We're already seeing the impact firsthand,” Schumer said. “In the past month, the Social Security website has crashed four times in 10 days. My office has gotten lots of calls from seniors who were stuck on the phone waiting for help for many hours. It used to be just a few minutes."
Schumer said that even before the cuts, staffing levels at the Social Security Administration were the lowest they’d been in 50 years.
