Issue Position: Social Security
Issue Position
Social Security has grown beyond our ability to pay on its current spending trajectory. Let me be very clear -- promises made are promises kept. Those that have paid into the system should not see their benefits cut. However, for younger generations, the system simply will not be around for them like it has been for previous and current generations. We must work together to bring long-term responsibility to a system that increasingly requires more money and find the political will to make the tough decisions that will ensure a brighter future for our country.
The facts:
- In 2009, the Social Security trustees reported that Social Security would start to pay out more in benefits that it collected in taxes in 2016, one year earlier than was projected in 2008. The trust fund would be depleted by 2037, four years sooner than projected in 2008. However, the most recent report says that the Social Security trust fund will have enough money until 2037, the same as last year's, but will unexpectedly run a deficit both this year and in 2011. The program will also begin running a permanent deficit in 2015 one year sooner than predicted in the previous year's report.
- The FactCheck.org website published findings on Washington Democrats' claims that Republicans made the privatization of Social Security a "key part of their legislative agenda" and those claims were proven to be false. The article refutes the privatization argument as well as the suggestion that all benefits would be subject "to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market."
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