Back Off Our Benefits Bus Tour

Days 1-19

From Bakersfield to Albany, we joined local partners and constituents over the course of 20 days to call on their Member of Congress to protect benefits like Social Security and Medicare—and stand up to House members who are using the default crisis as an excuse to demand devastating cuts that will negatively impact seniors, veterans, and working families.

Participants of the Courage for America Bus Tour pose in front of the bus.

Day 20: Finale Event in DC 

On Monday April 17th, Courage for America held a press conference in the U.S. Capitol to conclude the tour and mark McCarthy’s 100th day as Speaker: 100 days of pushing a dangerous and extreme agenda, 100 days of putting Americans’ livelihoods at risk. Advocates, allies, and constituents joined us to demand that Speaker McCarthy stop using the debt limit as an excuse to threaten cuts to hard-earned benefits like Social Security and Medicare. Groups like Common Defense, MoveOn, NAACP, Patriotic Millionaires, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, and the Alliance for Retired Americans stood with us in solidarity to once again call on MAGA politicians to stop playing politics with people’s lives.

Speakers from the DC Event pose on the stage in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Delivery of Sign-On Petition 

Advocates collected almost 200k signatures during the tour. The petition was hand-delivered to Speaker McCarthy’s office demanding that he protect the hard-earned benefits of American seniors, working parents, children, veterans, and people with disabilities.

Courage for American leaders deliver the Back Off Our Benefits petition to Speaker McCarthy's office in the Capitol.

Working with Creators to Tell the Story

We partnered with 28 national and local social media creators to uplift their voices and platforms to raise awareness around the tour and our fight to protect benefits. In addition to creating compelling digital content, these creators attended various press events as constituents in key districts and even served as speakers to share their personal stories. 

 

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