In 2013, Medicare celebrated its 30th anniversary. One of my guiding principles is that we must keep the promises we make. Medicare provides critical assistance to tens of millions of Americans. Those already receiving Medicare should not have to worry that their benefits are in jeopardy.
Access to quality health care is vital for a long and healthy retirement. That’s why I have always voted to protect Medicare. I strongly opposed the President’s health care law that cut more than $700 billion from Medicare – hitting more than 20,000 Minnesotans in the 2nd District. I believe it’s wrong to take from Medicare to pay for other government programs.
Seniors should be able to keep health decisions between them and their doctor. I opposed the creation of an unelected, unaccountable panel of bureaucrats tasked with cutting costs by deciding what health services will and won’t be covered. I was honored to receive the Champions of Seniors award for my efforts to protect Medicare, preserve the doctor-patient relationship, and ensure options and choices are available for seniors. I will continue to support efforts ensuring the promises made to our seniors are kept.
When it comes to Social Security, I believe you earned your benefits, you paid for them, and they should not be touched. I will continue to oppose any plan that reduces benefits for today’s retirees.
Aging Minnesotans and their loved ones face numerous decisions about health care, living arrangements, and other challenging issues and I want to help. In an effort to connect seniors, their families, and caretakers with a variety of resources available, I appreciate the opportunity to host my annual Aging & Wellness Expo, most recently held in September 2015. Continue to check my website to learn more about the Aging and Wellness Expo.
Minnesotans know retirement security doesn’t begin when they retire. In 2006, I championed the Pension Protection Act, bipartisan legislation quickly signed into law that reformed outdated worker pension laws and protects the retirement benefits of American workers and retirees. Workers and retirees deserve pension laws that protect their interests, and the Pension Protection Act represents a package of balanced reforms that safeguard the retirement security of millions of Americans and protects taxpayers from a potential multibillion-dollar bailout of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The Pension Protection Act:
- Tightened funding requirements so employers make more cash contributions to their worker pension funds
- Closed loopholes that allow underfunded plans to skip making cash pension payments
- Prohibits employers and union leaders from digging the hole even deeper by promising extra benefits if their pension plan is significantly underfunded
- Strengthens disclosure to give workers and retirees more information about the status of their pension plan
- Protects multiemployer pension plans for workers and their employers
- Restricts “golden parachute” executive compensation arrangements while the retirement security of rank-and-file workers remains at risk
- Gives workers new access to face-to-face, personally-tailored professional investment advice
- Shields taxpayers from a possible multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout of the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
In December, 2014 a bipartisan agreement I forged with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce then-Ranking Member George Miller (Calif.-7) to reform the multiemployer pension plan system and protect millions of workers from financial catastrophe passed the U.S. House of Representatives. A bipartisan Congress put workers and businesses one step closer toward having the tools they need to come together and save multiemployer pension plans that are facing imminent bankruptcy. I am pleased our bipartisan agreement became the law of the land to help prevent the collapse of failing plans and better protect workers’ retirement security. It’s time to trust our nation’s workers, employers, and union leaders to do the right thing by enacting this important bipartisan agreement. To learn more about this legislation, click here.
