Arkansas ranks third in the nation with the largest percentage of the population receiving Social Security benefits with 543,669 people receive benefits.  This includes over 300,000 retired workers, 91,000 disabled workers, and 54,000 children.  Without Social Security, 58% of beneficiaries over the age of 65 would have incomes below the poverty line.   

My first action as a Member of Congress was to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security Trust Fund.  I did this by introducing the Social Security and Medicare Off-Budget Lockbox Act of 2001, which prohibited the Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund surpluses from being used in national budget surplus projections.   

The Social Security Administration projects that the Social Security Trust Fund’s reserves will be depleted by 2041.   Some politicians claim that the only way to save Social Security is by privatization.  Taking money out of the Social Security Trust Fund and placing it into unstable private accounts is a risk our seniors simply cannot afford.  With privatization, workers will assume the risk of their retirement security. American citizens will be forced to cope with the risk of a bad investment, the risk that they will outlive their assets, or the risk of a stock market crash.  

As your Member of Congress in the United States House of Representatives, I remain committed to protecting Social Security and ensuring that the Social Security safety net created by President Roosevelt in 1935 will continue to pay beneficiaries, in full, the security they have worked a lifetime to receive.  I will work in a bipartisan manner to produce common-sense legislation that will strengthen Social Security so that the trust fund can continue to pay its beneficiaries without increasing the deficit or reducing guaranteed benefits.