Issue Position: Support Seniors
Issue Position
Alexandria is a strong supporter of Social Security, which is the most successful program for social uplift and social justice in the history of this country. She believes that everyone should be able to retire with dignity. She believes that Social Security should be expanded and that benefits should be linked to inflation. This includes raising the cap on taxable income so that everyone who makes over $250,000 a year pays the same percentage of their income into Social Security as the middle class and working families. Legislation to that effect would not only extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 50 years, but also bring in enough revenue to expand benefits by an average of $65 a month; increase cost-of-living-adjustments; and lift more seniors out of poverty by increasing the minimum benefits paid to low-income seniors. Additionally, Alexandria believes that funds borrowed from Social Security by Congress must be paid back to ensure its solvency. Without Social Security, more than 40% of seniors would have incomes below the poverty line. With this program running to full effect, only 8.8% of American seniors live in poverty, which is a number that is still too high and that Alexandria will work to reduce.
Until comprehensive universal healthcare is a reality in this country, Alexandria believes Medicaid needs expansion. It is a vital lifeline for 72 million Americans, and two-thirds of Medicaid spending supports senior citizens and the disabled. Expanding Medicaid to provide quality long term services, nursing home care, and home healthcare support is how we can best help our seniors.
Alexandria believes affordable housing should be within the means of all full-time working Americans. For the seniors who have retired, they should be able to stay in their homes without getting priced out. Seniors who are more financially secure in retirement and don't have to contend with rising rent costs will be able to choose for themselves whether to move in with their children and families, not be forced to do so by economic realities.
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