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It is official now. No more denials. Last Friday, co-president Elon Musk has made it clear that he is out to dismantle Social Security.

It follows a familiar pattern. When Trump/Musk wanted to fire federal workers without cause, he said they were lazy and not doing their jobs.

When he wanted to cut foreign aid, Trump/Musk said (without evidence) that there was major abuse.

Now Musk is accusing Social Security (the most efficient agency in the government) of engaging in massive fraud. Musk and his minions have raided the data at Social Security (our personal information) and have messed with programs to the point that experts are concerned they may have damaged files. The result would be lost benefits, lost checks.

So, here’s the deal. Trump/Musk want to take a sledgehammer to government programs without any input from Congress, and without any input from us voters.

In Minnesota, I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the danger of the proposed cuts to Medicaid. Those cuts would endanger our children, our working families, our disabled neighbors and seniors. Hospitals, clinics, home care and nursing homes would face deep cuts.

But don’t take my word for it. In Minnesota, 14 Republicans legislators from Minnesota wrote an open letter to President Trump and Congressman Brad Finstad and other Republican Congresspeople to stop the drastic cuts to Medicaid.

But in spite of calls and conversations, Congressman Finstad, Rep. Bennett and Sen. Dornink have not acted on our behalf.

And one last thing, the Republicans are cutting our needed programs so that the very wealthy can get a tax cut. This weekend, Republicans in the U.S. Senate would not even vote for an amendment to the tax bill so that billionaires would be ineligible for tax cuts.

I do not think this is what people voted for. Call Rep. Bennett (651-296-8216), Sen. Dornink (651-296-5240), and Congressman Brad Finstad (202-225-2472) to tell them to stop these cuts.

Mary Hinnenkamp
Albert Lea