We are helping lift up this important message from our friend Everett Kelly, President of the American Federation of Government Employees.

His members are the ones who make sure that Social Security benefits go out on time, and that Veterans get health care, and so much more. The current administration has cut off the union’s normal ways to collect dues from their members, and is fighting in court to bust the union entirely. Please, read Pres. Kelley’s message and split a donation between the Federal Workers Defense Fund and the Sanders Institute today!

– Jane O’Meara Sanders

Friend,

My name is Everett Kelley. I’m the President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and I need your help.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order a couple of weeks ago, retaliating against members of my union for standing up to his unlawful orders. They want to kill us financially so we can’t stand up to his attacks on public services. This is an existential fight for our union and the labor movement at large.

Donald Trump is trying to defund and abolish our union while we fight back. Can you split a donation with the Federal Worker Defense Fund to make sure we can keep fighting?

We set up the Federal Worker Defense Fund to help pay legal costs, aid fired workers, and pay for mass mobilizations. It’s going to be an essential resource while we fight back.

We’ve filed a lawsuit―but while the courts take their time to rule, Trump’s orders are still in effect. That means tens of thousands of my members have been fired. AFGE members who haven’t been fired are now working for political appointees who refuse to let them pay their union dues as they have for decades – through paycheck deduction. These new rules deprive the union of critical resources at a critical time. That’s why we’re asking for your help.

AFGE workers provide essential services like the Veterans Administration, the Social Security Administration, NASA, the EPA, and more. This attack on our union will have a chilling effect on whistleblowers who have come forward to decry events like Elon Musk’s lackeys gaining access to sensitive Social Security data. Whistleblowers know that the union has their back―and that sense of security is what Trump and Musk are trying to take away.

Trump’s attack has already drawn condemnation from members of Congress from both parties. Federal workers, nearly a third of whom are veterans, dedicate their lives to serving our nation every day with honor and pride. President Trump’s executive order stripping patriotic citizens of their union rights while they’re serving our country isn’t just wrong and un-American – it weakens workplace safety, morale, and effectiveness inside our government while hurting American citizens through diminished services.

We are fighting in court against Trump’s attacks, and with your support, we will win. Can you split a donation with the Federal Workers Defense Fund today?

I want to thank The Sanders Institute for letting me send you this message.

In solidarity,

Everett Kelley
President
American Federation of Government Employees

Our Social Security system has survived world wars, pandemics, and recessions. But without a rapid course correction, it may not survive Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Their “Department of Government Efficiency” – which they call DOGE – is taking an axe to the Social Security Administration, the government agency that has made sure that Social Security hasn’t missed a payment in 90 years.

Nancy Altman of Social Security Works has been one of the loudest voices defending Social Security. We’re proud to have hosted her at a Sanders Institute Gathering last year.

You may have seen Nancy’s comments in the Washington Post, the New York Times, or on news shows in the past month. We asked her what the Sanders Institute community needs to know about this attack. Here’s a few facts that Nancy Altman asked us to tell you:

Elon Musk has replaced the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration when she refused to provide his DOGE goons access to private Social Security data. He leapfrogged over 120 more senior employees to install a DOGE sympathizer, Leland Dudek.

Dudek has reportedly laid off at 7,000 of SSA’s already-understaffed, overworked workforce. SSA staff were sent a message on February 27 telling them the organization will soon undergo an “agency-wide organizational restructuring” and incentivizing them to resign rather than get fired.

Trump and Musk have also instructed the government to terminate the leases on SSA’s over 1,200 field offices, which are critical for the agency’s public-facing work. Musk and Trump even briefly listed the Social Security Administration’s headquarters as “non-core property” to be “disposed of.”

They’ve ordered all workers to return to the office. But where are those workers supposed to go if their offices are closed? This only makes sense if the ultimate plan is not just to fire the currently reported 7,000 workers from SSA, but everyone!

Many of SSA’s most senior employees, including five of eight regional commissioners, have left. This is causing an enormous brain drain. Together, they represent a huge loss of critical institutional knowledge. Collectively, those employees had almost 1,000 years of institutional knowledge and skills.

SSA was already severely underfunded and understaffed before all of this. The DOGE bloodbath could lead to its collapse.

That’s the point of the whole game. Social Security is one of the most popular and successful programs in our nation’s history. These actions by DOGE are intended to degrade service and make it difficult for people to access the benefits they’ve paid into their whole lives. Then, Wall Street politicians will cite that dysfunction as a reason to cut benefits, scrap Social Security altogether or to privatize it.

Let’s be clear: The only crisis Social Security faces is one that oligarchs like Elon Musk and Donald Trump are quite intentionally causing. Instead of cutting our earned benefits, we should PROTECT and EXPAND benefits by making billionaires pay in at the same rate as the rest of us.

The Sanders Institute is partnering with Social Security Works on a petition to send a clear message to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE: Cuts to the Social Security Administration are cuts to Social Security! We want to PROTECT and EXPAND, not cut, Social Security!

You can also watch Nancy’s panel at our Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlington below:

Carolyn Fowler, Government Affairs Advisor for LA Unified School District Tara Ford, Interim Directing Attorney for Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project Rachel Stein, Directing Attorney – Audrey Irmas Gender Justice Project Iziko Calderon, Child Welfare Advocate working to make local, statewide, and national policy changes