8/14/2008 - McCain Plan to Gut Social Security Prompts Young Dems, Senior Dems to Take Action
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008
CONTACT: REBECCA POLLARD, 772-4353
Maine Democratic Party organizes cross-generational phonebank to ensure McCain can't steal Social Security from 62,000 Mainers on the program's 73rd birthday
(PORTLAND, BANGOR MAINE) - On the 73rd birthday of the nation's Social Security program, Democrats spanning several generations came together today in Portland and in Bangor to prevent a U.S. presidency led by John McCain, who is determined to gut the program that has lifted millions of Americans out of poverty.
The Maine Democratic Party held press conferences in Portland and Bangor, followed by "cross-generational phonebanks" that are part of today's 2,008 Dials for a 2008 Victory, a grass-roots effort by the Democrats to make at least 2,008 telephone dials to their neighbors in each county in a single day.
Portland's event included: Justin Alfond, Candidate for Maine Senate District #8; Peter Chandler, Campaign Director for the Maine Democratic Party's (MDP) Victory 2008 Coordinated Campaign; and Katherine Chatterjee, a senior and Social Security beneficiary from Harpswell. Bangor's event included: Emily Cain, Maine House Representative for District #19; Sean Faircloth, the House Majority Whip; and Marie Lusth-Winn, a senior and Social Security beneficiary from Bangor.
The speakers detailed the effects that the McCain-Bush plan to privatize Social Security would have on Maine as described in a new report by the group Campaign for America's Future.
More than 165,000 people in Maine currently live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census. The report shows that more than 62,000 older people living in Maine would have a greater risk of joining them, with each person losing more than $141,000 over the course of their lifetimes by the time a privatization plan like the one supported by McCain and Bush is fully implemented.
"I know many people who simply would not be able to get by without Social Security, especially with the rising costs of gas, heating oil, food and medicine," said Chatterjee. "It would be a sad state of affairs if McCain followed Bush's plan to privatize Social Security like he's proposed."
"I don't think something as important as Social Security should be done by private industry, like John McCain has proposed," said Lusth-Winn.
"I believe we need to do everything possible to keep Social Security around for my generation," Alfond said. "We can make some adjustments to the program, but risking Social Security's future on Wall Street is not the answer."
"Social Security has proven to be one of our nation's most successful programs," Cain said. "We are paying into Social Security, and we should not leave our investments up to the whims of Wall Street."
Currently in Maine, 280,000 people depend on their earned Social Security benefit every month, with the average Social Security check for individual retirees at $1,000 per month. It takes $867 per month to stay above the federal poverty line.
"Destroying Social Security would be an affront to the people of Maine, particularly in light of the fact that Frances Perkins, who helped create the program as part of FDR's New Deal package, is from Newcastle, Maine," Chandler said.
Faircloth added, "Barack Obama has a plan to strengthen Social Security, but just like President Bush, Senator McCain supports private accounts that will undermine Social Security and leave the Maine seniors of today and tomorrow to scrimp and suffer."
After the press conferences, the speakers joined other Democratic volunteers in "cross-generational phonebanks" to ensure their voices are heard this election year. They are aiming to make 25,000 phone calls statewide today alone.
To read the Campaign for America's Future report on Maine, go to: http://assets.ourfuture.org/documents/perils-of-privatization/maine.pdf
FACTS
- One in five adults in the U.S. receives Social Security benefits.
- Social Security is more than a retirement plan - 30% of benefits go to disabled workers or surviving families.
- Two-thirds of seniors are reliant on Social Security for half or more of their income.
- One-half of seniors would be living in poverty without Social Security.
- The annual report from the Social Security and the Medicare trustee states that Social Security can pay full guaranteed benefits until 2041 and 78% of benefits after that.
- With modest changes like those offered by Senator Obama, the system will be able to pay full guaranteed benefits for the foreseeable future.
McCain's overall policy proposals are a dangerous threat to fiscal responsibility and the existence of programs like Social Security.
• According to analysis by the American Progress Action Fund, McCain's Bush-style tax cut plan would cost $2 trillion while delivering 58% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% and providing corporate tax cuts that would save oil companies $3.8 billion annually.
• In 2006, McCain voted for the Bush's Social Security Privatization Plan. The proposal would have shifted Social Security's annual surpluses into a reserve account that would be converted into risky private accounts. [S.C.R. 83, Vote #68, 3/16/06]
• In 2003, McCain Voted Against Protecting Social Security in Favor of Bush's Tax Cuts. The proposed amendment would have eliminated most of President Bush's tax cuts and placed the surplus revenue into Social Security trust funds. [S.C.R. 23, Vote #58, 3/18/03]
