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Social Security: Where Do the 2020 Candidates Stand?
Mark Miller of The New York Times writes perhaps the most comprehensive piece this campaign season on where the Democrats candidates and President Trump are on Social Security. He notes the Democrats have taken a hard left turn since the mid-1990s when Joe Biden was about to join a “grand bargain” to make benefit cuts to help the solvency of the program. All candidates now favor major expansions of Social Security, a curious stance when the program faces insolvency and benefit cuts in just over a decade. Tax increases are proposed with no benefit cuts on the table. President Trump has not offered much in the way of reform. The House appears poised to pass The Social Security 2100 Act, a major expansion along the lines that most candidates advocate. A chart summarizing the positions of all is in the article, and Miller’s full piece can be read here.
The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved by making modest changes in cost of living adjustments and the retirement age, with no additional taxes on workers. AMAC advocates for a bipartisan compromise, “The Social Security Guarantee Act,” taking selected portions of bills introduced by former Rep. Johnson (R-TX) and current Rep. Larson (D-CT) and merging them with the Association’s own well researched ideas. One component is Social Security PLUS, a new, voluntary plan that would allow all earners to have more income available at retirement. This component is intended to appeal especially to younger workers. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved and modernized and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in DC, meeting with a great many congressional offices and their staffs over the past several years. Read AMAC’s plan here.