Earlier this week, I joined the AARP and several thousand area residents for a wide-ranging conversation about Social Security, Medicare, and other issues of concern to seniors in New Jersey.  A video of our conversation is available online.

One topic of conversation was Social Security.  As I noted in the call, Social Security has improved American society.  Back in 1935, to be old was, on average, to be destitute.  Social Security changed that.  It is one of the most important governmental programs in the history of the country, and it has worked and it still works.  Without Social Security, 44 percent of elderly Americans would live in poverty; with Social Security, only 9 percent do.

One thing I advocate, and this would be good for fairness as well as for individual Americans, is to remove the cap on wages subject to the Social Security taxes.  Right now, if you pay Social Security taxes, as almost every wage-earner does, you pay taxes on only about the first $117,000 in income.  For this reason, millionaires pay a smaller percentage of their income in Social Security taxes than ordinary folks.

No middle-income or low-wage worker should pay a higher rate on Social Security taxes than millionaires.  If we got rid of that cap, then no one would raise a question about Social Security’s long-term finances for many decades to come.

A New Nation, Conceived in Liberty

One hundred and fifty years ago, Abraham Lincoln stood at Gettysburg and proclaimed, from the bloodiest battlefield of our nation’s bloodiest war, that “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

These words were Lincoln’s first, but now they belong to all of us – and I encourage you to make them your words as well.  The Learn the Address project, associated with patriotic filmmaker Ken Burns, encourages ordinary citizens to record the Gettysburg Address and share the results on YouTube.

Lincoln captured in the fewest possible words the essence of what America is about.  I have just posted my own recording of the speech, and I hope you’ll join me in honoring this moment in American history.

Working for You

Recently, a Monroe woman contacted me because the IRS had refused to issue her $1,400 tax refund.  The refund had been held up due to procedural delays, and despite the constituent’s repeated efforts, the IRS would not resolve her case.  After I contacted the IRS to cut through red tape, the woman quickly received her refund.

Have you encountered a similar problem with the IRS, a passport center, the VA, Social Security, Medicare, or any other federal agency? If so, please call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT or by sending an e-mail. I’ll do all I can to address your problem.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress