Citizen Groups Launch Protest on Benefit Cuts

Lobbying groups for older Americans and low-income people announced a campaign today against Reagan Administration proposals to limit Social Security benefits and cut Medicare and Medicaid.

The campaign will include meetings with members of Congress over the April recess, with more than 170 gatherings planned around the country, leaders said.

The plans were announced at a news conference by Arthur Flemming, former secretary of health, education and welfare who is co-chairman of a group called Save Our Security, and Robert Brandon, Washington director of Citizen Action.

When President Reagan agreed with Senate Republicans to hold the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security recipients to 2%, “he certainly repudiated the commitment he made during the campaign” not to tamper with benefits, Flemming said.

Integrity Undermined

“What a proposal of this kind does is to undermine confidence in the integrity of the system . . . the ability of the government to live up to its commitments. It undermines the integrity of the government itself,” Flemming said.

“When the President walks away from the kind of commitment he made during the campaign, he contributes to that lack of confidence in the Social Security system,” he added.

Brandon said 25 state coalitions of citizen action groups have set up hearings around the country on that issue and proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. He predicted that “you’re going to see a lot of politicians trying to duck on this issue.”

The lobbying effort will attempt to see that members have to vote separately on the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid issues instead of being able to vote on one budget package, he said.