Wednesday, April 18, 2018

McCaskill: I am pushing legislation to make Social Security benefits keep with cost of living

(From Sen. Claire McCaskill)

Missouri seniors living on fixed incomes are seeing their out-of-pocket expenses rise every year, but the Social Security benefits they've earned just aren't keeping up.

It's unbelievable to me that the minimal cost-of-living adjustments seniors see today in their Social Security checks are based on the same basket of goods from 1973—a whole lot has changed since then, and it's about time we change this too.

I'm fighting to make that change.

Today, seniors spend two to three times as much on health care as younger consumers, but the annual adjustment in their Social Security benefits don't keep up with those rising health care expenses. That's not right, and our seniors deserve better.

That's why I'm pushing legislation that would make this common sense fix to help our seniors today, and put Social Security on stronger footing for generations to come.

It's part of my commitment to the promise that was made to Missourians—that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can retire with respect and dignity. And it's one I'll fight to keep.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:03 AM

    This makes sense! Social Security was paid in advance by recipients; it's not an "entitlement" hand-out. It's controlled by the Treasury who treated it as a slush fund without repayment. Now the bills are coming in, elders are retiring, and the fund is running dry. Never mind the top-heavy salaries and wasteful spending (like first-class travel, a soundproof telephone booth, millions to bomb Syria).

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  2. Anonymous10:05 AM

    Listen for it: Calls for fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget. Time to focus on reducing social security, maybe privatizing it ... All the money went away with the latest egregious tax cut to the wealthy. (Oh, Ooops, my bad. Ignore the last part!)

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  3. Anonymous10:55 AM

    End this absurd Ponzi scheme! Grandfather the current recipients, return the money to those who haven't started collecting and end it!

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  4. Anonymous11:14 AM

    Sure, 10:55. Perfect answer if you wait a few more years for all the people born during the Depression to die off; they remember why Social Security was instituted in the first place.

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  5. What a sham,she has helped spend us into a bottomless pitt....

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  6. Anonymous8:10 PM

    If we could just get sum moar tax cuts to trickle down on us all them problems could be fixed quicker than a cutting knife turns a pen full of shoats into barrows!

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  7. Anonymous4:43 AM

    1055- I offered to opt out of SS to my congressman after he slammed the program. I even offered that they can keep 20%. Mr. Long did not accept my offer.

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