Diaz-Balart Pledges to Honor, Save Social Security's Legacy on its 70th Anniversary

August 14, 2005

Diaz-Balart Pledges to Honor, Save Social Security's Legacy on its 70th Anniversary

MIAMI-On August 14, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security program into law - America's most successful social program and has protected the retirements of millions of American seniors. In honor of Social Security's 70th anniversary, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) issued the following statement in honor of the occasion:

"Social Security is one of America's great success stories and represents a sacred trust between the government and its people," Diaz-Balart said. "Its longevity is a testament to those who spent their working lives contributing to the system and who then benefited from the program upon their retirement.

"For generations, Social Security has been a financial bedrock that retirees could rely on," Diaz-Balart continued. "However, today's younger workers are faithfully contributing their share toward Social Security with little hope that they'll see anything in their future. First and foremost, we need to stop the raid on Social Security and then make the reforms necessary to ensure future generations who have worked hard and followed the rules will have a secure retirement.

"The longer we wait, the more it will cost to fix in the end and the more it will be at risk," Diaz-Balart concluded. "I am completely committed to taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure that Social Security will be able to provide future generations with guaranteed, stable and adequate retirement benefits while keeping the current benefits intact."

Over 46 million Americans now benefit from this program. For one-third of those over the age of 65, Social Security constitutes nearly their entire income. Florida has the second largest number of Social Security recipients in the nation with three million individuals and their families, which only further shows how important this successful program is to the state. However, the structure that has funded the program-today's workers paying today's beneficiaries-is crumbling. Demographic shifts now mean that there are only three workers per retiree, whereas there were 16 in 1950. If trends continue as expected, there will be only two per retiree when today's workers begin to collect benefits.

http://www.house.gov/mariodiaz-balart/news/2005news/081405_socialsecurity70.htm