Issue Position: Seniors/Social Security

Issue Position

Issue Position: Seniors/Social Security

I am working to ensure that we have adequate healthcare and services for our growing senior population. By 2030, nearly one in five Americans will be 65 or older. Fewer than one in eight are elderly now.

For over seven decades, Social Security has provided security to millions of retiring Americans. I am absolutely committed to preventing President Bush and Republicans in Congress from privatizing this critical program.

Despite what President Bush has been declaring, Social Security does not face an immediate crisis. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security can pay full benefits until 2052, and about 80 percent of benefits thereafter. I believe we need to explore ways to strengthen and modernize Social Security so it remains solvent for generations to come. Privatization does exactly the opposite—risking the safety net of our seniors in the often volatile stock market.

We must also take steps to strengthen Medicare. I voted for a bill to make health care more affordable for seniors by requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. I also voted for the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, a bill to prohibit the reduction of payments to physicians and add tens of billions of dollars to the Medicare trust fund by reducing overpayments to profit rich HMO's. Congress has a moral responsibility to pass laws that help our seniors, not big pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

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