Subject: FACT CHECK: REPUBLICANS WILL NOT PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY
From: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
To: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 02:08:50 +0000

FACT CHECK: REPUBLICANS WILL NOT PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY

Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee are discussing various ways to roll back Social Security benefits.

Republicans want to take away benefits from Americans who are already working longer hours right now.  They endorse plans to privatize Social Security, call it a "ponzi scheme" and believe that this crucial protection for America's seniors has "weakened us as a people."

This extreme conservative ideology won't improve the lives of America's seniors.  It will fail them.

Jeb Bush Suggested The Social Security Retirement Age Should Be Increased From 65 To Up To 70. Bush: "People that already have this supplemental retirement system, which is a contract -- I don't think we violate that. For people that are about ready to be, be beneficiaries of their supplemental retirement, I don't think we change that. But we need to look over the horizon and begin to phase in, over an extended period of time, going from 65 to 68 or 70." [CBS News, 5/31/15<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeb-bush-promises-no-coordination-with-super-pac-if-he-runs/>]

*         Jeb Bush Called For Introducing Private Retirement Accounts As One Of The "Main Reforms" To Social Security. "GIBSON: Governor Bush, Alan Greenspan says you are going to have to cut Social Security benefits. What does President Bush say? J. BUSH: I think what Alan Greenspan says is that you have to reform Social Security. And one of the main reforms is to allow for younger workers, not for the people that are already on Social Security or the people that are about ready to get on it, to have the option of private retirement accounts." [The Big Story with John Gibson, Fox News, 2/26/04]

Yahoo: "Christie Would Also Raise The Normal Retirement Age For Social Security -Quickly, By Actuarial Standards - To 69 (It's Currently Headed For 67) And The Early-Retirement Age From 62 To 64." [Yahoo, 4/14/15<https://www.yahoo.com/politics/chris-christie-bets-on-bold-chris-christie-116349714161.html>]

Rubio On Social Security: "We Need To Increase The Retirement Age For Future Retirees."  RUBIO: "This is some progress in adjusting Social Security to the modern era, but not enough to ensure that the program will be there for your kids and my kids. We need to increase the retirement age for future retirees to account for the rise in life expectancy." [Marco Rubio, American Dreams, 1/13/15]

Ted Cruz On Whether Social Security Is A Ponzi Scheme: "There's No Doubt That's What It Is." "SMITH: So I'm going to take that as a yes. That you believe that social security is a Ponzi scheme. CRUZ: I think there is an effort to treat that as rhetoric, but there's no doubt that's what it is." [Texas Tribune Festival, 9/11/11]

*         Ted Cruz Supported Raising The Retirement Age And Means-Testing For Social Security. CAVUTO: "So, what does that mean? Does that mean that you would eventually raise the retirement age? Would you means-test it? What?" CRUZ: "Well, it means you do both." [Your World With Neil Cavuto, Fox News, 6/4/15]

Walker Said He Would Support Raising The Age To Qualify For Social Security. "At a forum Monday featuring 14 of the 17 major Republican candidates, Gov. Scott Walker suggested he would support raising the age to qualify for Social Security." [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/3/15<http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walker-13-other-gop-hopefuls-at-new-hampshire-forum-tonight-b99550000z1-320535602.html>]

Ben Carson Called For Raising The Retirement Age. Dr Ben Carson: "When Social Security was first enacted, the average age of death was about 63 years. It is now approaching 80 years and rising. Obviously we have to adjust to a changing situation. The age at which benefits are distributed should be gradually raised." [Forbes, 1/29/15<http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2015/01/29/potential-presidential-candidate-dr-ben-carson-on-social-security-glass-steagall-and-taxes/>]

Kasich Praised Bush's Social Security Privatization Plan. "A more attentive reception was given Rep. John R. Kasich of Ohio, who praised Bush for showing 'real courage and real leadership' in proposing reforms that would allow Americans to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in stocks or other private investments. 'You and I know that through voluntary personal retirement accounts we can create wealth and personal security for ourselves and our families in our most important years,' said Kasich, who briefly challenged the Texas governor in the GOP primaries." [Los Angeles Times, 8/3/00]

Rand Paul Said He Wanted To Individualize Social Security And Create Private Accounts. RAND PAUL: "I believe in less involvement in your retirement account, not more. I'd like to let you have a private account. I'd like to individualize Social Security and let you put it in an account with a number on and you log on and it's your money. If you die, you could give it to your family." [Lars Larson Radio Show, 4/15/15]

Rand Paul And Lindsey Graham Put Forth A Proposal That Would Raise The Qualifying Age For Social Security From 67 To 70 By 2032. "Under a proposal unveiled by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah), the qualifying age for Social Security would rise from 67 to 70 by 2032, while benefits for everyone earning more than an average of $43,000 over their lifetime would be reduced." [Mother Jones, 4/14/11<http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/republican-social-security-cuts>]

Huckabee Urged Republicans To Use Creativity To Cut Social Security By Offering A "Onetime Buy-Out" For People With Other Retirement Plans. Huckabee: "Rather than say we will cut Social Security, there are a lot of who are not expecting to live off of Social Security. We have 401Ks or KEOH plans or annuities. The last thing we expect is a couple hundred dollars to hang onto. Here's what I think the government could do. Offer a onetime buy-out -- For people who have other kinds of options. Let it be tax free. They can keep it. They can give it to a child, tax free. They can give it anywhere they want. It is their money, tax-free, one time. Age 65, they are done." [American Nightly Scoreboard, Fox Business, 1/20/11]

Jindal Supported George W. Bush's Plan Of Personal Accounts For Social Security. "Jindal was for entitlement reform when entitlement reform wasn't cool. In fact, his introduction to Washington was as staff director of Senator Phil Gramm's bipartisan commission on Medicare, which developed one of the earliest premium-support plans for the program. Jindal was an enthusiastic backer of George W. Bush's plan for personal accounts for Social Security." [National Review, 2/11/15<http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398361/debt-and-gop-michael-tanner>]

Perry Called Social Security A Ponzi Scheme And Suggested That Allowing Private Accounts Should Be On The Table When Discussing Social Security Reform . In an interview with Sean Hannity, Perry was asked about Social Security and said, "Here's what we know - that the program as it is set-up today is not going be viable in the future for our young people. And those kids know what a Ponzi scheme is. As you are paying into something and it is going to be the ones that pay in first, and there's not a pay-out for them when their time comes. Kids know that...So, are we going to raise the age at which people become eligible for it? Are we going to allow the young Americans out there that are working to have private sector account-type options? All of those are appropriate conversations to have." [Fox News, Hannity, 9/21/11]

Santorum Emphasized His Embrace Of Private Accounts For Social Security. "He also has reiterated his embrace of private accounts for Social Security, a plan that has been largely dropped by the GOP since the financial-market upheavals of 2007 and 2008. His embrace of President George W. Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security was in part to blame for his re-election defeat in 2006, when he lost his Senate seat to Bob Casey Jr. by 18 percentage points. [Wall Street Journal, 6/7/11<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576369101069730540.html?KEYWORDS=medicare>]