Issue Position: Social Security

Issue Position

My Agenda:

- Preserve Social Security and Medicare

- Pass the Social Security and Medicare Lock Box Act

- Ensure our future retirees receive the promises that have been made to them

Social Security important to families

Like so many other senior citizens, my 92-year-old mother - though she's next door to my home - continues to live independently. The financial safety of Social Security and Medicare has helped her with everyday living as she's dealt with various health struggles over the past few years.

In October 2007, the first baby boomer signed up for Social Security, and 80 million baby boomers are scheduled to follow in the next 22 years. The first wave will begin next year as 3.2 million Americans turn 62. Social Security caseloads will go from today's 50 million people to over 84 million people in 2030.

Protecting Social Security

It is critical that Congress preserves the solvency and promise of Social Security and Medicare. It is the least we can do for the millions of American seniors who have paid into these programs throughout their lifetime and are currently receiving benefits or scheduled to soon receive Social Security benefits.

In December 2007, I introduced the Social Security and Medicare Lock Box Act. Currently, the Social Security system is generating surplus tax revenues, but by 2019, it is expected to enter into a deficit. The benefits of retirees who will collect Social Security and Medicare are expected to grow by 76 percent while the number of workers paying into the system is expected to grow by only 6 percent.

Social Security and Medicare Lock Box Act

The Social Security and Medicare Lock Box Act is bi-partisan legislation that would help safeguard these funds for future retirees and help ensure accountability for our seniors, future retirees and children. For the past 30 years, surplus Social Security dollars have been raided and spent on unrelated programs. We need to lock away these funds to ensure our future retirees receive the promises that have been made to them.

Masking the total general government fund deficit by borrowing from the Social Security and Medicare surpluses only extends the future pain our nation will have to confront. Congress should not be spending these Social Security and Medicare surpluses on questionable new programs and pork-barrel spending.

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