ISSUES/LEGISLATION: SOCIAL SECURITY

President Bush has spoken a great deal about the need to privatize at least a portion of Social Security, and that the system is going to be broke in the near future. While the changing demographics of our nation will stretch the Social Security system beyond its existing financing capacity in the long term, we are not in the immediate crisis that the President has suggested. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Trust Funds will have adequate assets to pay all promised benefits until 2052. Even after that point, almost 80 percent of benefits can be paid.

I am strongly opposed to the President's continued attempts to create private accounts within Social Security. Not only would this plan do nothing to address the long-term solvency of the program, but it will also entail borrowing trillions of dollars, largely from foreign nations, at a time when our nation is already in debt. Instead, we must work towards a smart solution to Social Security's long term solvency: one that protects its fundamental purpose of providing a guaranteed basic benefit level of income for all retired workers in their later years.

I also will continue to protect the value of the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) that Social Security beneficiaries receive each year. I have long supported legislation that would ensure that rising Medicare costs do not consume more than 25% of a senior's COLA each year. This legislation will provide some relief to seniors from rising Medicare premiums, helping ensure that their Social Security COLAs remain available for other necessities, such as the rising costs of energy and health care.

South Dakota statistics

- SD is ranked 11th in the nation among states having the largest percentage of their population receiving SS benefits-- its 18% in SD (and slightly above ND which ranks 12th).

-Total federal Social Security payments made into SD- $1.2 billion

-Ranked 14th among 50 states in percentage of state income from Social Security

-12% of SD Social Security beneficiaries receive disability benefits

-Over 8,000 children under 18 receive Social Security benefits

-WITHOUT Social Security, 51.7% of South Dakotans would be living in poverty. WITH Social Security, the percent is only 8.9 percent. Total number lifted above the poverty line by Social Security in the state is 44,000.

Statistics from Economic Policy Institute

Congressional Budget Office | Social Security Administration | Center for Economic and Policy Research | Economic Policy Institute | Brookings Institution | National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare