Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Congressman John Larson (CT-01), former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, and Social Security advocates and beneficiaries joined Protect Our Checks’ town hall. Each speaker commemorated the milestone 90th anniversary of Social Security by highlighting its legacy and urging Congress to protect this vital source of income for millions now and into the future. The town hall follows Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s admission that the Trump administration is looking for ‘back doors’ to privatize Social Security and the administration’s forced cuts to the Social Security Administration.  

The call comes ahead of Protect Our Checks’ National Day of Action on Saturday, August 16, when over 50 events in 15 states will be held to stand up for this cornerstone of economic security and push back against congressional Republican attacks on Social Security. 

Download the full video here

Watch the livestream here

Below are some highlights from the town hall:

“For nearly nine decades, through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every single American on time and without delay,” said Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “Yet, despite its popularity and despite its success, Trump and Musk and others have been working overtime to try to dismantle Social Security and, importantly, undermine the confidence that the American people have in it…Our job must not be simply not to cut Social Security. We have got to expand Social Security, and extend its solvency.”

“Recently, a Treasury Secretary openly bragged about plans to use a back door to privatize Social Security and hand the benefits of working families over to those folks on Wall Street,” said Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). “Trump’s so-called promise to protect Social Security, in my view, is about as real as his promise to protect Medicaid – no substance, big consequences for American seniors and families walking on an economic tightrope.”

“Republicans in Congress are pushing full steam ahead with an agenda that takes away benefits from millions and gives tax breaks to their billionaire donors,” said Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06). “While they’re trying to play games with impact dates on some of this, I have hungry seniors right now…it is not a ‘line’ to say people are making a choice between medicine and eating. For 90 years since its founding, Social Security has not once failed to deliver checks to our seniors and beneficiaries, and we’ve got to do everything we can now to protect those checks.”

“We have to be committed and persistent, not just to protect Social Security, but it needs to be expanded. The last time it was expanded, Richard Nixon was President of the United States. That’s simply unacceptable,” said Congressman John Larson (CT-01). “Social Security is loved and approved by Republicans, unaffiliated, and Democrats all across the board. Let’s take this fight to Congress, but let’s make sure that the public knows how important this is. And with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security, it’s time not only to speak up, but speak out and act.”

“Social Security has never been more needed by the people of the United States than it is right now, and Social Security has never needed the people of the United States to speak up and stand up for this program more than [it] does right now,” said former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley. “We hear about field offices teetering on the brink of collapse because they just don’t have the staff to see people. There is a very, very real danger that for the very first time in 90 years, we’re going to see an interruption of benefits. So, as we celebrate these 90 years, let us also resolve that we will speak up, we will speak out, and we will defend this program.”

“…This is a situation where everybody will have a negative impact if we cut Social Security,” said NAACP Director of Opportunity, Race, & Justice Keisha Bross. “And this, more than ever, is the time that our organization, along with others, fights to protect – not only our citizens’ quality of life – but the ability to have human dignity. When we cut Social Security, this impacts food access, the opportunity for care, the ability to have housing, and will only continue to negatively impact working [people] and people in retirement. NAACP will be focused on advocating through Congress to fight to protect Social Security.” 

“At 37, I became disabled. It was devastating, because I was a young mother to two sons [that] are on the autism spectrum…When my sons needed additional medical support, I was able to get care for them because of their Social Security benefits. Without those benefits, we would have been homeless on the street,” said Social Security recipient Judith Brown. “Social Security has always been there for us over all these years. Right now, this administration is bent on stripping us of our benefits that we paid into during our working years…We cannot allow this to happen. Social Security must be protected and expanded. Our entire existence is on the line, and we must fight to protect Social Security.”

“Social Security matters to Americans of every age and every corner of this country,” said Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Molly Weston Williamson. “For all those who depend on Social Security – for seniors, for disabled people, for children and families – the Trump administration’s reckless actions have threatened those essential benefits over and over again…At the same time, President Trump and congressional Republicans’ signature legislative accomplishment includes giveaway after giveaway to the ultra-wealthy while threatening the future of Social Security [that] the rest of us count on. After 90 years, it’s time to defend and expand on the Social Security Americans have built lives and livelihoods on for generations.”

“Republican tariffs are driving up prices at the grocery store, their bills are raising the cost of health care and electricity, and they’ve even found time to hand out more tax breaks to billionaires, and now they want to mess with Social Security, and we are not going to let them take that away from us,” said Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Saryn Francis. “This weekend, with over 50 events across the country, Americans are rallying in a massive effort to support Social Security and calling on congressional Republicans to stop threatening what hardworking people have earned and need to survive.”

To learn more about the campaign, visit ProtectOurChecks.com

 or contact press@unrigoureconomy.com

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About Unrig Our Economy

Unrig Our Economy is a national campaign to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people. We know that when the middle class does well, all of us do well — which is why we’re fighting on behalf of working Americans and holding corporations, their wealthy executives, and the politicians who enable them accountable.

About Social Security Works

Social Security Works is a non-profit fighting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—because everyone deserves to live in dignity.