On Aug. 16, two days after the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act becoming law, AFT, AFTNJ and HPAE leaders participated in Indivisible/One NJ7’s Protect Our Checks rally in Bridgewater to praise the landmark legislation and speak out against forthcoming benefit cuts and changes.
AFTNJ President Jennifer S. Higgins noted that the driving force behind the Social Security Act of 1935 was Frances Perkins, who served as labor secretary for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“She understood that voluntary, charitable organizations could never fully support the millions of Americans who needed basic economic security,” Higgins said near Bridgewater’s Social Security Administration office. “She also understood that pooling resources to level the economic playing field for our most vulnerable — the elderly, the disabled, unemployed and their families — was vital to achieving the American dream.”
A few minutes later, AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus continued the theme: “Here’s what Frances Perkins, the mother of the Social Security Act, said in 1962: ‘Social Security is so firmly embedded in the American psychology today that no politician, no political party, no political group could possibly destroy this act and still maintain a democratic system.’ ”
DeJesus added, “[Today] we are facing a five-alarm fire from sea to shining sea. Because [the Trump] administration has taken a wrecking ball to the government, to our democratic system, and your representative, [CD7 Congressman] Tom Kean Jr., voted for the meanest, ugliest, cruelest budget in modern American history.”
ABOVE: AFTNJ President Jennifer S. Higgins (second from left) and HPAE President Debbie White (third from left) listen to AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus speak Aug. 16 at the Protect Our Checks rally in Bridgewater.
BELOW: Protect Our Checks rally participants assemble along Route 22 in Bridgewater near the Social Security Administration office. (Photos by Chris M. Junior)
