Opposes privatization and individual investment accounts
Ensuring the stability of Social Security pensions is more important now than ever. Just as many Americans have lost all or part of their retirement savings because of corporate fraud & precipitous drops in the stock market, privatization proposals would
subject Social Security-the only retirement safety net-to stock market volatility. For too many Americans, privatization will change Social Security from a safety net into a roulette wheel. I will fight against proposals to privatize Social Security.
As Colorado Attorney General, I am familiar with the many kinds of investment fraud schemes that particularly target our elderly. I would, therefore, be very wary of "individual investment accounts."
More than half of Americans over 65 years old would
live in poverty if Social Security disappeared. I will push for a return to fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets to maintain a foundation for economic growth, and I will press to make the preservation of Social Security a national priority.
Source: Campaign website, SalazarForColorado.com
Aug 11, 2004
Voted NO on establishing reserve funds & pre-funding for Social Security.
Voting YES would:
require that the Federal Old Age and Survivors Trust Fund be used only to finance retirement income of future beneficiaries;
ensure that there is no change to benefits for individuals born before January 1, 1951
provide participants with the benefits of savings and investment while permitting the pre-funding of at least some portion of future benefits; and
ensure that the funds made available to finance such legislation do not exceed the amounts estimated to be actuarially available.
Proponents recommend voting YES because:
Perhaps the worst example of wasteful spending is when we take the taxes people pay for Social Security and, instead of saving them, we spend them on other things. Even worse than spending Social Security on other things is we do not count it as debt when we talk about the deficit every year. So using the Social Security money is actually a way to hide even more wasteful spending without counting it as debt.
This Amendment would change that.
Opponents recommend voting NO because:
This amendment has a fatal flaw. It leaves the door open for private Social Security accounts by providing participants with the option of "pre-funding of at least some portion of future benefits."
This body has already closed the door on the President's ill-conceived plan for private Social Security accounts. The opposition to privatization is well-known:
Privatizing Social Security does nothing to extend the solvency of the program.
Transition costs would put our Nation in greater debt by as much as $4.9 trillion.
Creating private accounts would mean benefit cuts for retirees, by as much as 40%.
Half of all American workers today have no pension plan from their employers. It is critical that we protect this safety net.
Make no mistake about it, this is a stalking-horse for Social Security. It looks good on the surface, but this is an amendment to privatize Social Security.
