Issue Position: Social Security Reform - Saving Social Security

Issue Position

Issue Position: Social Security Reform - Saving Social Security

I adamantly oppose the Bush/Campbell agenda to privatize Social Security. They want to hide undisciplined and excessive spending by putting Social Security outside the review of GAO. I oppose these efforts because Social Security is a promise we made to the almost forty-eight million Americans who now depend on Social Security, and to everyone who has paid into Social Security and will someday use its benefits.

The Bush/Campbell tax agenda cuts Social Security benefits by reducing funding and diverting funds from the trust fund. I propose three changes that will put Social Security on firm financial footing and assure viability throughout the future.

First, freeze the federal estate tax at its 2009 level (that will exempt all estates of less than $3.5 million from estate tax) and designate revenue from the estate tax as a dedicated revenue source for Social Security.

Second, gradually restore the maximum taxable wage in covered employment, as Congress originally intended and funded Social Security until the Bush/Campbell tax programs reduced funding to the program.

Third, authorize the Social Security Administration to diversify its investment base into broad index funds, and Real Estate Investment Trusts.

We cannot allow the Bush/Campbell program to treat Social Security like a political ATM. I will insist that Social Security be a lock box to which only beneficiaries have the key. With funding changes, and protection of the trust fund, America can deliver on the promises made in the Social Security Act.

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