Home Page
| For Immediate Release April 14, 2005 |
Contact: Ishmael-Lateef Ahmad at (314) 367-1970 |
|
Clay Warns Women’s Coalition That Bush Plan Would Hit Them Hard |
|
| Washington, DC - Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, told a coalition of St. Louis area women’s groups that President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security would “Be a huge mistake for every working American and it would be especially damaging to women.” The Congressman addressed a crowd of several hundred women activists who gathered at the downtown headquarters of A.G. Edwards for an intergenerational forum on Social Security
Clay blasted the Bush administration and the Republican leadership for misleading the American people. “There is no crisis in Social Security,”said Clay. “The real crisis is the truth deficit created by the President and the Republican leadership. Privatization is not really about fixing Social Security. It’s about advancing a radical, reckless public policy that would create two Americas…one with wealth and security, and the other that lives with hardship and fear.” Two thirds of older women depend on Social Security for at least half of their monthly income. Without the guaranteed benefit, half of all senior women would live in poverty. Among African American and Latino seniors, that percentage is even higher. The forum featured expert testimony by Joan Bernstein, National President of the Older Women’s League; Laurie Young, National Executive Director of the Older Women’s League; and Ann Widger, Regional Director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The Congressman told the crowd that while Social Security was facing a funding gap that would effect the solvency of the program in 40 – 50 years, Congress would make some minor adjustments that would correct the problem without destroying the guaranteed monthly benefit. |
# #
