We all know that President Obama and Congressional Republicans are locked in a battle over raising the nation’s debt limit. Republicans are refusing to agree to a rise (something they approved many times during the Bush Administration) without trillions of dollars in spending cuts. President Obama says he is willing to make some significant cuts but he wants them accompanied by a hike in taxes on the rich and corporations, something Republican hard-liners will not accept.

Along comes the “Gang of Six,” three Democratic and three Republican senators who have hammered out a compromise deficit-cutting proposal that is gaining some traction and that the President has praised in principle. But listed among the cuts the Gang would make is the CLASS Act, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s final legislative initiative. Enacted as part of the health reform law, CLASS is on track to set up a voluntary, self-funded national long-term care insurance program that will help millions of American families cope with their own impending financial crisis – caring for frail elderly parents and other disabled relatives.

The strange thing is that the CLASS Act would actually reduce the deficit for at least a decade – to the tune of $83 billion as premium payments roll in and few benefits are paid out, according to the Congressional Budget Office. There is some disagreement about whether the program can be ultimately sustainable, but the law states that if it isn’t, it will be shut down. So it’s fairly deficit neutral even in the worst-case scenario.

“Repeal the Class Act? What’s that doing in a deficit-reduction program?” said Barbara Manard, vice president of LeadingAge, an association of non-profit groups that provide services to the elderly and that is a key CLASS Act backer, quoted in a New York Times blog. “It’s totally bizarre. It’s desperately needed, people like it, and getting rid of it actually increases the deficit. It’s a lose-lose-lose proposition.”

It’s no surprise that many Republicans would take this opportunity to try to eliminate the CLASS Act. After all, it establishes another government program, even though in this case it’s not an “entitlement” program like Medicaid or Medicare. But it is alarming that Democrats like Illinois’ Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the Gang of Six, would agree to kill it.

As Howard Gleckman, a fellow at the Urban Institute, has pointed out, “Congress can repeal CLASS, but it can’t slow the aging of America and the growing need to provide personal care for the frail elderly or others with disabilities.”

LeadingAge is hosting a call-in day on Tuesday, July 26, to ask members of Congress to “Save CLASS.”

For more on the CLASS Act, click here.