On Social Security, I may have misread the electoral mandate by pushing for an issue on which there had been little bipartisan agreement in the first place. With no Democrats on board, I needed strong Republican backing to get a Social
Security bill through Congress. I didn't have it. Many younger Republicans, such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), supported reform. But few in Congress were willing to address such a contentious issue.
The collapse of Social
Security reform is one of the greatest disappointments of my presidency. Despite our efforts, the government ended up doing exactly what I had warned against: We kicked the problem down the road to the next generation. In retrospect, I'm not sure what I
could have done differently.
I made the case for reform as widely & persuasively as I could. The failure of Social Security reform shows the limits of the president's power. If Congress is determined not to act, there is only so much a president can do
Invest 1/3 of payroll tax in personal savings account
I have put forward my specific solution, called "A Roadmap for America's Future," to meet this challenge [of the economic crisis and the future of entitlements].
The problem, in a nutshell is this:
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, three giant entitlements, are out of control. Expanding costs will drive our federal government and national economy to collapse.
Source: Young Guns, by Reps. Ryan, Cantor & McCarthy, p.136
Sep 14, 2010
Road Map: invest 5.1% income into personal account
The Road Map plan for Social Security makes no changes in Social Security for current retirees or those over fifty-five years old. But Americans who are fifty-five and younger will have a choice to contribute part of their current payroll taxes into a
personal savings account they own and the government can't spend.
Initially younger workers will be allowed to invest only 2% of their first $10,000 of annual income into their personal accounts and 1% of all income above $10,000. Eventually,
(by the time my children retire), workers will be able to invest 5.1 percentage points (nearly half) of the 12.4% that they and their employers now contribute to Social Security.
The Road Map plan guarantees no worker will ever receive less from
Social Security than is now promised under the current system. There will be no risk to workers who choose to save for their own future rather than retire as dependents of the government.
Proposed bill to invest 50% of FICA in personal accounts
We will have to rethink Social Security because of our new ability to live longer. Everyone knows Social Security is going bankrupt. By 2017 Social Security will start running cash deficits. The trust funds run out in 2042.
Suppose that workers were
free to save and invest, in their own personal accounts, up to roughly 50% of what they currently pay in payroll taxes. Employers would contribute the same amount to their workers' personal accounts out of the payroll taxes they currently pay on behalf
of their employees. This plan was proposed in a bill by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. John Sununu (R-NH). Lower income workers would be allowed to invest a slightly higher percentage of what they currently pay in payroll taxes, and higher-income workers
a little less.
If a personal account pays more than the Social Security benefits it replaces, [the taxpayer] gets to keep the gain. If the account is insufficient to pay for all the benefits it replaces, the government pays the difference.
Voted YES on raising 401(k) limits & making pension plans more portable.
Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001: Vote to pass a bill that would raise the amount individuals may contribute to traditional and Roth Individual Retirement Accounts and to 401[k] plans and make pensions plans more portable
Reference: Bill sponsored by Portman, R-OH;
Bill HR 10
; vote number 2001-96
on May 2, 2001
Voted YES on reducing tax payments on Social Security benefits.
Vote to pass a bill that would reduce the percentage of Social Security benefits that is taxable from 85 to 50 percent for single taxpayers with incomes over $25,000 and married couples with incomes over $32,000. The revenues that would be lost for the Medicare trust fund would be replaced by money from the general fund.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Archer, R-TX;
Bill HR 4865
; vote number 2000-450
on Jul 27, 2000
Voted NO on strengthening the Social Security Lockbox.
Amending the Social Security Lockbox bill to require that any budget surplus cannot be spent until the solvency of Social Security and Medicare is guaranteed.
Reference: Motion to Recommit introduced by Rangel, D-NY;
Bill HR 1259
; vote number 1999-163
on May 26, 1999
Rated 10% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record.
Ryan scores 10% by the ARA on senior issues
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. The Alliance believes that all older and retired persons have a responsibility to strive to create a society that incorporates these goals and rights and that retirement provides them with opportunities to pursue new and expanded activities with their unions, civic organizations and their communities.
The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
