FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 11, 2010

CONTACT: Cullen Schwarz
Office: (202) 225-5802

PETERS HOLDS 75TH BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH LOCAL SENIORS

At Event, Peters Discusses His Opposition to Privatizing Program

(Bloomfield Hills, MI) – U.S. Representative Gary Peters today joined with local retirees to hold a birthday party for Social Security as the program turns 75 this week.  President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935, creating the Social Security program that has served as a retirement security and insurance program for Americans ever since.  In Michigan, Social Security provides an average monthly benefit of $1,257 for nearly 1.2 million seniors to provide retirement security or to help make ends meet, put food on the table and allow many retirees to stay in their homes.

At the event, Peters spoke about the need to preserve the covenant of Social Security for future generations.  Peters said he believes efforts to privatize Social Security are misguided and pledged to oppose them.

“Social Security and the basic guaranteed benefits it provides are even more important in the wake of the recent economic crisis,” said Rep. Peters.  “Wall Street greed decimated retirement accounts and home values, and for many Social Security benefits have been their only source of stability.  Had Social Security been privatized as some have proposed, retirees would have lost billions and been in a very tight spot right now.  Social Security is a promise to seniors and I do not support privatizing and gambling with that promise.”

After being signed into law in 1935, Social Security paid its first one-time, lump-sum payments in January 1937, and regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940.  A 1939 change in the law added survivors’ benefits and benefits for a retiree's spouse and children.  Today, more than 50 million Americans rely on Social Security’s guaranteed benefits.

For a photo of today’s event with Congressman Peters and local seniors, click here.

For more on Social Security’s 75th anniversary, including photos chronicling the program’s history, visit: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/75thanniversary.

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