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| INCOME SECURITY
According to the Social Security Trustees, without any changes at all, full benefits can be paid until 2042. Even after that, incoming revenues will be sufficient to pay about 70% of obligations for decades thereafter. While Social Security is not in crisis, the sooner we act to ensure its continued long-term solvency, the more moderate the necessary adjustments and the more time individuals will have to adjust their retirement planning. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides a basic safety net for 6.6 million needy aged, blind and disabled adults and children. However, benefits have remained unchanged for years, along with income caps and asset limits for determining eligibility, and outreach efforts to identify potential beneficiaries. Improvements to the program are needed to ensure SSI can adequately fill its role. There are numerous options for securing Social Security's long-term solvency. There are concerns, however, that some changes that have been suggested could do more harm than good by eroding the program's essential protections, exposing workers and their families to unacceptable risks and having a disproportionate impact on certain populations. We would appreciate your views on Social Security's future. Do you favor or oppose the following changes to Social Security?
[ Bush ] [ Braun ] [ Clark ] [ Dean ] I am opposed to President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. I do not believe it is necessary to raise the retirement age in order to put Social Security on sound financial footing for the long term, but I am committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure Social Security will be there for the next generation just as it has been for us and for our parents. At the same time, we must be aware of the growing numbers of those over 85 years of age, the fastest growing segment in our population, paying particular attention to proposals that protect income security for poor elderly women through the Social Security and SSI programs. We can strengthen Social Security for generations to come. We just
have to make the right choices. President Bush has chosen to give trillions
in tax breaks to the wealthy. My administration will choose to help
seniors and ordinary Americans. Without any changes at all, Social Security has the resources it needs to pay full benefits for the next four decades and the large majority of benefits for decades longer. We should not panic and adopt a harmful policy, such as privatizing Social Security, in the name of a false crisis. I oppose diverting payroll taxes into individual accounts. Doing so would worsen Social Security's stability, erode the safety net provided by Social Security, and undermine the progressive social compact behind Social Security. I oppose raising the retirement age and reducing benefits through means-testing,
which are not necessary. I also oppose raising the cap on taxable wages,
which would be a massive tax increase on many middle-class families
and small businesses. [ Gephardt ] We also have a responsibility to make sensible decisions that invest in Social Security and make it stronger in the decades ahead. We have a responsibility to ensure our children and grandchildren will reap its rewards. Quite simply, our values call for building Social Security up, not tearing it down in the name of privatization. As Democratic Leader, I was proud to lead the opposition to Republican plans to privatize Social Security. Republicans used every tactic in the book to make the case for individual, private accounts: During good economic times, they argued that private accounts would offer a "better return" than Social Security. During bad economic times, they argued the program is doomed and has to be dismantled. The truth is, despite the ups and downs of the stock market, Social Security has never missed a paycheck, and is a resounding success story. I will always fight to protect this program and fight privatization schemes. Likewise, I will continue to oppose any changes to Social Security that would weaken the program and jeopardize its ability to provide a safety net for this and future generations. These changes include diverting payroll tax dollars into individual accounts, raising the retirement age, means-testing benefits, or any other drastic changes that will radically restructure the Social Security system. [ Kerry ]
[ Kucinich ] However, he continues to work within the system to improve Social Security and SSI and has co-sponsored the "Social Security Financial Solvency Act" toward this end (a bill to guarantee full benefits with no tax increases for 75 years by transferring general revenue to the Social Security fund). Dennis has also submitted a plan to establish a "Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers," that would compute cost-of-living increases for Social Security and Medicare benefits. Congressman Kucinich believes that the interest rate on the Social
Security trust fund is too low. It is much less than the average interest
rate for US Treasury- backed securities. If Congress changed the law
to credit the trust fund with the average interest rate, we could reduce
long term financing problems by 30%.
Covered workers continue to experience erosion or elimination of their pension plans. Pension coverage rates have stagnated for the last several decades, and at any given time only half of the workforce is covered by a pension plan. Currently, there are few legal protections for workers who suffer losses through corporate bankruptcies, cutbacks in employer contributions, and conversion to "cash back" plans. 1) Do you favor establishing a system of federally-sponsored universal retirement saving accounts in addition to Social Security, financed with new dollars, rather than with funds diverted from Social Security? [ Bush ] [ Braun ] [ Clark ] [ Dean ] [ Edwards ] I will give Americans who have the most trouble saving today the best chance to save by matching $1 in private savings with up to a $1 refundable tax credit, up to a limit of $1,000 per couple. Americans with incomes up to $50,000 will be eligible. A working family that saves the maximum under this plan every year from age 25 to retirement will have a nest egg of $200,000, on top of other savings. I will pay for my plan by repealing parts of the Bush tax cuts, not by diverting payroll taxes. I have also proposed other steps to encourage wealth creation for working Americans. My American Dream tax credit will give moderate-income families $5,000 toward their first home. I will also help 95 percent of families save and invest by cutting their capital gains and dividends taxes. [ Gephardt ] As president, I will propose a universal pension system. This will allow workers to keep the pension credits they've earned, as they move from job to job. The accounts will eliminate the phenomenon of workers retiring with several different pension accounts from different jobs they have held throughout their careers. A lifetime of hard work should not go unrewarded. [ Kerry ] [ Kucinich ] As the nation watched corporate bankruptcies unfold at Enron and Global Crossing -- and the people of Dennis Kucinich's 10th District of Ohio watched Chapter 11 proceedings at LTV Steel -- we all learned that there are two sets of rules in this arena. Corporate executives play by one set of rules and employees play by another. The most egregious disparity is that during a bankruptcy, executive pension plans are totally protected from creditors. Employees, on the other hand, stand at the end of the line and must wait behind other creditors - to claim what rightfully belongs to them for compensation that they have already earned! All of this will change under the Kucinich presidency. The concept of a system of federally-sponsored universal retirement savings accounts in addition to Social Security (if it were financed with new dollars, and not diverted from Social Security) might be worthy of consideration, depending on the details of such a proposal. Kucinich is against individual accounts if proposed as a replacement for a federally funded retirement system. Kucinich has served as cosponsor of a great many bills in this arena, including the "Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act" (a bill to increase the IRA contribution limit, increase portability of plans, strengthen pension security, and reduce regulatory burdens to encourage small businesses to offer retirement plans); the "Increase in Phase-in Limitation" (a bill to increase the guarantee on benefit improvements for workers whose companies go bankrupt); the "Public Pension Parity Act"(a bill to equalize tax treatment of public pensions to Social Security); the "Retirement Security Act" (a bill to improve pensions by improving pension access and coverage, strengthening pension security, and increasing pension equity for women); the "Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act" (a bill to allow employees the opportunity to manage and preserve their retirement savings when they switch jobs); and the "Pension Benefits Protection and Preservation Act"(a bill to protect pension benefits of employees in defined benefit plans and to enforce the age discrimination requirements). [ Lieberman ] [ Sharpton ]
[ Bush ] [ Braun ] [ Clark ] [ Dean ] [ Edwards ] Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), pension plans are required to benefit a broad group of employees. However, corporations increasingly use special executive pensions that are exempt from ERISA to give more to employees at the top, even as ordinary workers' pensions are cut. In the ultimate "pay for non-performance" scheme, companies are crediting executives for years they never worked. I believe that the basic principle of fairness that is already in existing law ought to apply to all pensions, and I will eliminate all taxpayer subsidies for executive pensions if they are disproportionately large compared to rank-and-file pensions. More than 500 companies have converted their pension plans from offering guaranteed monthly payments in retirement to so-called "cash balance" plans that accumulate investment earnings, and more are coming. Cash balance plans can be good for younger and mobile workers, but the conversion can cut older workers' pensions by as much as 50 percent. These workers made career choices years ago based partly upon pension promises, and they will have a hard time replacing the lost retirement income. I will protect the oldest and longest-tenured workers from pension cuts due to these conversions. Finally, we have an obligation to ensure that corporations fund their pension promises so that workers can rely on a secure retirement and taxpayers aren't forced to pick up the tab. I will restructure ERISA to promote corporations fully funding their pension plans, including allowing them to put more money in during good times. [ Gephardt ] [ Kerry ] Steps must be taken to ensure that workers' retirement savings are protected. I would ensure that older workers' benefits are not jeopardized when companies shift to cash-balance pension plans; and take other steps to ensure that older workers are not discriminated against. We need to provide better investment information and advice to workers. And as a lesson learned from the Enron scandal, we need to ensure that companies cannot force employees to hold employer stock for longer than the time it takes the stock to vest. [ Kucinich ] Yet this Administration has been asleep on the issue. Insiders and mutual fund managers have been ripping off ordinary investors' retirement funds-and the SEC took a backseat to state attorneys general in exposing the fraud. When I'm President, our watchdogs won't be sleeping, they'll be looking out for you. We'll start by creating an Office of the Investor at the SEC to protect the interests of average investors - and the retirement savings of millions of Americans. Second, I will ensure that pension funds are not underfunded. Right now some companies are playing fast and loose with the numbers they use to calculate their pension liability -- and this has resulted in pension funds are underfunded. As President, I will not allow corporations to write bad checks to their employees and retirees. Third, I will make sure that the federal government doesn't let companies off the hook. Some companies want Congress to set new rules for pension liability that would reduce pension funding obligations and could devastate lump sum payments. But pension funding relief should not come at the expense of workers. Finally, I'll grow the economy and I'll create 10 million jobs and I'll cut taxes for 98% of all taxpayers. A strong, growing economy is the single best way to secure everyone's retirement. [ Sharpton ]
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Leadership Council of Aging Organizations. All Rights Reserved. |
