The Social
Security system provides three distinct types of benefits for
workers and their families: lifetime retirement benefits for retirees
who have worked at least ten years and their spouses; disability
insurance for workers, their spouses, and their children; and
survivors' insurance for the families of deceased workers. Social
Security guarantees working and retired Americans and their family’s
the economic stability that keeps them out of poverty.
The Economic
Policy Institute, which is a non-partisan, non-profit organization,
notes that Arkansas ranks third in the nation for a state with
the highest percentage (20%) of people receiving Social Security
benefits. Arkansas ranks fifth in the nation for number of people
receiving disability benefits, as well as for number of children
receiving survivor/ disability benefits. Ensuring the longevity
of this program is important for both current and future generations.
Regardless
of whose reports one wants to believe, the Social Security program
is not in an immediate crisis and is able to pay out benefits
until well in the future. The Social Security Administration projects
that the Trust Fund will be able to meet its full obligations
until 2041, at which point it will be able to pay out an estimated
73% of benefits. The Congressional Budget Office projects that
the Trust Fund will be able to meet its full obligations until
2052, at which point it will be able to pay out an estimated 80%
of it benefits.
With
the Presidents initiative to privatize Social Security, the Trust
Fund could go broke as early as the 2030s. This would be a result
of shifting trillions of dollars out of the existing Trust Fund
and into private accounts. By removing money from the Trust Fund,
you are removing the amount of principle that receives interest,
therefore causing the Fund to go broke sooner.
There
is no guarantee that these private accounts will remain stable.
History has shown us that the stock market has taken many unexpected
downturns. Such uncertainty could leave thousands of individuals
with little or no retirement income. I refuse to support any plan
that will take such a chance on a person’s benefit security.
In addition
to uncertain retirement income, privatization could also hurt
those individuals who rely on the insurance component of the program.
The President has yet to specify how a younger worker, who becomes
disabled, will be affected by privatization. The Social Security
Administration has noted that nearly three out of every ten workers
will become disabled over the course of their lifetimes. If a
person has barely been able to contribute to these private accounts,
then what sort of disability protection are they afforded under
the proposed privatized system?
I have
many concerns regarding the Presidents initiative to privatize
Social Security. I am adamantly against any plan that will gamble
with the security of benefits for our retired seniors, our widows,
children and disabled. I welcome the opportunity to work in a
bipartisan manner to improve the long term solvency of Social
Security, just as I am committed to doing with Medicare, which
will become insolvent much sooner than Social Security.