April 7, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: As we grapple with rising prices and tanking markets in Month No. 3 of this presidency, we must also be alert to the steps this administration has taken to weaken Social Security: they have fired thousands of Social Security workers; they have closed Social Security field offices; they will remove the national 800-number helpline; and they are forcing millions of Social Security beneficiaries, who have paid into the system over many decades, to manage their benefits in person. Of course, this last point relates to the first three because there are now fewer and fewer ways to reach Social Security officials.
The results of this theft by our government of our people are devastating for the millions of people in the United States who rely upon Social Security benefits to make ends meet. The impact is especially alarming for older women, who have had less earning potential throughout their lives and rely heavily on this earned benefit.
Feminist Majority tells us: “Widows, single mothers, married women, divorced women — women who raised children and took care of aging parents —women who helped build this country — now risk losing everything.”
The same organization states that the Trump administration is coming now for Medicaid as well, using the same crippling strategies and having the same dire effects on our families and communities.
What can we do to stem the tide of these actions that will affect so many of us? We can call Congressman Ben Cline and senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to tell them to stop the Trump administration from stealing our hard-earned benefits. We can unite to elect Abigail Spanberger as the governor of Virginia this coming November. Let’s send the message that our state won’t surrender to economic policies that take our money and hand it over to billionaires. ELLEN MAYOCK Lexington
