Celebration of 77th Anniversary of Social Security Marked by Romney’s Pick of Paul Ryan as VP Candidate
Capital District Residents Gather to Call on Congress to Protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid
New Report Details Success of Economic Security Programs
Albany, NY – Restore the American Promise (RAP), a coalition of community, senior and human services advocates today celebrated the 77th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act and called on candidates for Congress and the US Senate in New York State to protect the program and reject attempts to privatize the system. The Coalition released a new report, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Work for New York, which shows how these critical programs are being essential for millions of New Yorkers, and makes the case for ensuring that they are not cut or eliminated.
“Social Security has been the most popular and successful public program ever established and yet the silence of many of the candidates to defend Social Security is stunning,” said Mary Clark, Chair of the Restore the American Promise Coalition, and Citizen Action of New York’s Southern Tier Regional Director. She said the coalition is calling on all the candidates running for Congressional seats in New York State to pledge to support the social insurance model of the program and reject privatization which would allow some of the funds to be diverted to private accounts.
As our country faces a presidential election this fall, participants noted the historical significance of Gov. Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Congressman Ryan is the architect of the Republican budget plan, which dismantles Medicare and significantly cuts Medicaid and other critical social programs. In 2005, Congressman Ryan’s plan to completely privatize Social Security was considered so radical that it was rejected across party lines.
Michael Burgess, former Director of the New York State Office for the Aging, said, “Many of these candidates talk about private accounts getting better returns, but they seem to forget that Social Security is not an investment program. It is social insurance for retirement security, life insurance coverage for survivors and disability coverage. Many candidates talk about privatization because they have been listening to wealthy financial interests rather than their constituents.”
The new report details how many New Yorkers rely on these critical programs. About 3.2 million New Yorkers rely on Social Security, Medicare has 2.9 million beneficiaries, and over 5.2 million receive benefits from Medicaid. These programs result in almost $130 billion a year in benefits for New York families, protecting our communities and helping our economy.
“As Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Ryan has proposed privatizing Social Security for future retirees and big benefit cuts for current retirees,” said Michael Kink, Executive Director of Strong Economy for All. “His record makes it clear where he stands. This report proves that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are working for New York. Any attempts to gut, cut or eliminate these effective programs would wreak havoc on communities across New York and America.”
Mark Hannay, Director of Metro New York Health Care for All, said, “If we had not fought it, Social Security would have been converted into partial private accounts during the Bush Administration in 2005. Retirees would have lost huge amounts of money in 2008 when the Stock Market crashed and the Great Recession began. Now we must fight again to preserve the program and we are telling the candidates to tell us their positions on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid before the election.”
“Just about every extended family has a story of someone who needed Social Security before retirement,” said Dennis Tracey, President of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans. “In three years we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Medicare and the 80th anniversary of Social Security and these programs can remain strong if our elected officials support them as the people want rather than say they can only be saved if they are privatized and cut.”
“As we enter this election season, it’s important to remember that virtually every one of us is touched by the benefits of programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” said Ivette Alfonso, President of Citizen Action of New York. “At the same time as the Romney/Ryan budget cuts critical programs for working families, millionaires would get tax cuts ranging from $187,000 to $256,000, in addition to the $164,000 they are already getting from the Bush tax cuts. We call on our elected officials to fight for us, not for CEO campaign contributors.”
Restore the American Promise is a large coalition of community, labor, senior, consumer organizations, and concerned New Yorkers.
Click here to download the full report.
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