Michael Bennet on Social Security Democratic Presidential Challenger; CO Senator

Eliminate income cap for payroll taxes

Bennet: Mostly yes. Includes eliminating income cap for payroll taxes supporting Social Security & Medicare.

Glenn: No. Supports substantial tax decreases, including for the wealthy. Pledged to oppose any tax increases to raise revenue. Allow charities & community programs to do the work of alleviating poverty.[7]

Optional personal retirement accounts ARE privatization

Romanoff responded that the 2004 Senate Joint Resolution "does not say that it will divert money out of Social Security. I wouldn't have voted for it if it did."

The Bennet camp followed the flier with a new press release: "Romanoff surrounds himself with seniors in a shameful attempt to show his support. What he isn't telling them is that Speaker Romanoff voted to privatize Social Security. A move that would have stripped many seniors from their only source of income."

SJR 28 in 2004 resolved to "support optional personal retirement accounts and not support increases in payroll taxes and cuts to Social Security benefits."

Preserve the integrity of entitlement programs

Strongly opposes privatizing or reducing benefits

I strongly oppose privatizing Social Security or reducing Social Security benefits. We can work together to confront Social Security's solvency challenge without taking these drastic, ill-conceived measures. A component for guaranteeing the long-term viability of Social Security is to get our nation's fiscal house in order, without raiding Social Security to do it.

Opposes private retirement accounts.

The Christian Coalition voter guide [is] one of the most powerful tools Christians have ever had to impact our society during elections. This simple tool has helped educate tens of millions of citizens across this nation as to where candidates for public office stand on key faith and family issues.

The CC survey summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: "Allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security tax in private retirement accounts"

Rated 90% by ARA, indicating a pro-Trust Fund stance.

Scoring system for 2014: Ranges from 0% (supports privatization and other market-based reforms) to 100% (supports keeping federal control over Trust Fund and Social Security system).

About ARA (from their website, www.RetiredAmericans.org):

The Alliance for Retired Americans is a nationwide organization, founded in May 2001, with now over 4.2 million members working together to make their voices heard in the laws, policies, politics, and institutions that shape our lives. The mission of the Alliance for Retired Americans is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security.

• Alliance members visit the polls in record numbers. We use the power of our membership and our Congressional Voting Record to educate and mobilize seniors to elect leaders committed to improving the lives of retirees and older Americans.
• We are effectively warding off cuts to our most important social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Our Human Chain Against the Chained CPI events in the summer of 2013 took place in more than 50 cities and mobilized support for stopping this cut to earned Social Security benefits.
• We blocked the privatization of Social Security with our Social Security "Truth Truck" delivering 2.1 million petitions to Members of Congress and other tactics.
• The Alliance makes its voice heard on the issues that matter not just to current retirees, but to all Americans who hope to retire one day. We were a leading voice in recent debates considering changes to Medicare, like replacing guaranteed benefits with a voucher system, and remain so in 2014.