As a recent retiree who will depend on Social Security for the bulk of my retirement income, I thank Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, for his leadership in the important fight to expand Social Security and help millions of Americans to live with dignity.

Sen. Brown will be reintroducing shortly the Strengthening Social Security Act, a move that comes none too soon.

The Republican-controlled House, on Jan. 6, passed legislation laying out parliamentary rules for the year. The bill included a little-noticed provision blocking Congress from shifting funds to prevent a 2016 shortfall in Social Security’s disability insurance program, and a provision requiring the Congressional Budget Office to give more favorable analysis to tax cuts for the rich.

The Social Security Administration’s actuaries have projected that the disability insurance program’s trust fund will run out of money next year, potentially forcing a 20 percent benefit reduction for nearly 11 million Americans.

That unprecedented House proposal, preventing routine rebalancing, is purely political and partisan.

Why do lawmakers believe in cutting benefits for Americans who have worked hard all their lives, paid into Social Security, and rely on their Social Security benefits, including disability, in order to survive?

A modest and temporary reallocation to the Disability Trust Fund would put the entire Social Security program on an equal footing, with all benefits payable until at least 2033.

The House majority’s attempt to prevent that solution sends a clear message to middle-class families that targeting Social Security is high on their priority list.

Jim Lysen, Lewiston

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