Seniors Wary of Budget Hawks, Encourage Open Meetings

Today the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform met for the first time.

After today's opening session, it plans to hold most of its meetings outside of the public eye, behind closed doors in the U.S. Capitol.  This means it will be difficult for seniors to follow the Commission and its work.

The Alliance wrote a letter to the Commission, calling for both open meetings and for field hearings to allow testimony from those who would be affected by its recommendations.  Activists and seniors in many states also contacted their elected officials, saying that the Commission's deliberations - and the future of Social Security - are too important to be kept secret. 

Executive Director Ed Coyle said, "Social Security is one of our nation's greatest success stories, and there is no reason to hide it away.  We must bring this new Commission's meetings out into the sunshine, so everyone can see firsthand just how important Social Security is to Americans of all ages."

(Pictured: The New Hampshire Alliance educated the public about what's at stake in Commission meetings, encourage maintaining crucial Social Security and Medicare programs as Sen. Judd Gregg begins discussions on reducing the national deficit.)

Comments

[JC Dicus]

If not for Social Security my wife and I would be indigent. Social Security is not a free entitlement, I paid into the system for over fourty years and expect to receive the benefits promised by our government. This issue is too important to hide behind closed doors. Let the public see and hear the discussions.

[Ann M. Gutierrez]

Seniors, we need to DEMAND that all shady and greedy politicis keep their damn hands off of our Social Security and Medicare. When they are ready to cancel their pensions and pay for their own benefit packages instead of feeding off the taxpayers, then maybe we will consider any OPEN negotiation. Meanwhile, keep their damn hands off my Social Security. I worked for almost FIFTY years of my life and paid into Social Security and Medicare and they do NOT have the right to dictate to us seniors what changes they will make to these programs. If need be, we should go to Washington wheelchairs, walkers and canes and demand they drop their own benefit packages to save money and don't they dare touch Social Security.