Polk County Democrats > Press Releases > News > Press Releases > BOSWELL: MCCAIN, JUST LIKE...
BOSWELL: MCCAIN, JUST LIKE BUSH, WANTS TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Des Moines,
IA – On the eve of the 73rd anniversary
of Social Security, Congressman Leonard Boswell
criticized Senator John McCain for wanting to
privatize the Social Security benefits that
558,000 Iowans rely on.
Social Security
has been hailed as the most effective
anti-poverty program in our nation's history,
but John McCain and his Republican friends are
dusting off their dirty tricks and scare
tactics to push for more of the same failed
Bush economic policies and push Americans
towards private accounts.
“Senator
McCain has been quite clear, offering more of
the same failed Bush economic policies and
saying personally that he believes that the way
Social Security works is a ‘disgrace,’” said
Congressman Leonard Boswell. “Well, the people
of Iowa disagree. It’s time to say no to the
same old politics that put Wall Street profits
ahead of Iowa families."
According to a
report from the Campaign for America’s Future
released last week, McCain’s privatization plan
would put 82,000 Iowans in greater risk of
falling into poverty.
“This election the
choice is clear: Senator McCain, who wants to
privatize Social Security, or Senator Obama who
will work with Congress and the American people
to ensure we honor America’s promise to us all,
that we can someday retire in dignity,” Boswell
added.
The full report by the Campaign
for America's Future can be found at: http://assets.ourfuture.org/documents/perils-of-privatization/iowa.pdf.
A centerpiece of McCain's presidential bid in 2000 was a plan to divert a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to fund private accounts, much as President Bush proposed unsuccessfully...McCain's 2008 presidential campaign Web site takes a different view, proposing "supplementing" the existing full Social Security system with personally managed accounts. Such accounts wouldn't substitute for guaranteed payments, and they wouldn't be financed by diverting a portion of Social Security payroll taxes...Asked about the apparent change in position in the interview, McCain said he hadn't made one. "I'm totally in favor of personal savings accounts," he says. When reminded that his Web site says something different, he says he will change the Web site. (As of Sunday night, he hadn't.) "As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it -- along the lines that President Bush proposed." [Wall Street Journal, 3/6/08]
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]
In 2000, McCain Voted Against Increasing Social Security Survivor’s Benefit. The proposed amendment would have increased the Social Security survivors' benefit to at least 75 percent of the benefits their parents would have received. It also dedicate interest savings from paying off the national debt to Social Security. [H.R. 8, Vote #192, 7/14/00]