Sanders: Bush lies about Social Security
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By DANIEL BARLOW Southern Vermont Bureau - Published: August 30, 2005
BRATTLEBORO — Congressman Bernard Sanders found a receptive audience Monday as he urged more than 150 area senior citizens to oppose President Bush's attempts to overhaul Social Security.
Sanders, I-Vt., said Social Security will remain solid for at least another 37 years and only modest changes are needed to strengthen it.
Bush and Republican allies in Washington are trying to scare people into thinking the program will go bankrupt as they push personal investments as the solution, he said.
"I don't know how to say this nicely — the president and his allies are lying on this issue," said Sanders. "It's just not true."
Sanders is running next year to replace Vermont Sen. James Jeffords, who is retiring.
The 90-minute discussion featured several leading senior citizen advocates criticizing Bush's plan to change the system. Comments centered mostly on Social Security, although some seniors asked about prescription drug prices and the war in Iraq.
He urged seniors to call his Washington office if they have questions on the new Medicare prescription drug plan, Social Security, retirement benefits and other issues.
"We're here to help," Sanders said. "Don't by shy."
The lunchtime meeting at the Gibson-Aiken Senior Center in downtown Brattleboro was one of many town hall-style meeting Sanders has held on a variety of national policy issues. He has lambasted Bush's town hall meetings on Social Security for allegedly picking supportive audiences.
"People who disagree with me, we want you to come up," Sanders said. "That's because we believe in democracy and hearing different points of view."
Social Security was not designed 70 years ago as an "investment scheme" and Bush's privatization plan is based on an "extreme right-wing ideology" and "benefits only Wall Street," Sanders said.
Bush has been predicting Social Security would collapse in 10 years when he was a candidate for U.S. Congress in 1978, Sanders said.
But two recent studies — including one by the Congressional Budget Office — have shown that the system "will pay out every nickel" until at least 2042 or 2052, Sanders said.
Marge Power, a member of the Vermont Alliance for Retired Americans, urged the mostly elderly audience to tell their children and grandchildren in other states about the importance of Social Security.
Seniors in Vermont should arm their out-of-state relatives with information so they can urge their national representatives to oppose Bush's plans as well, she said.
"We are the people who know about Social Security," she said. "And your job is to tell them what they need to know."
Sanders said he supported increasing contributions from wealthy Americans into the fund and placing it in a lock box so that the taxes are not used to support the general fund.
"Right now Bill Gates puts just as much into the Social Security system as a guy who makes $90,000 a year," Sanders said. "I'm not opposed to asking the wealthy to pay more into the system."
James Barnett, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, said Bush's proposal would allow people to place a small portion of their Social Security funds into "401K-style savings accounts."
"This would be an optional program," Barnett said. "It lets the workers decide if they want to invest some of the money."
Barnett also said Sanders voted against a bill in 2000 that would have reduced Social Security taxes for some low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
But Sanders clearly found a receptive audience Monday as the large crowd cheered him every time he highlighted the policy differences between himself and Bush.
One woman, wearing a shirt for Sanders' congressional re-election bid in 2002, said opening the system up for investment would benefit "only Wall Street" and "increase the opportunities for fraud."
Sanders said the confusing new prescription drug bill is the product of aggressive lobbying by the prescription drug industry.
The new bill, signed into law by Bush in 2003, will only slow down the rising costs of the drugs temporarily and offers no long-term solutions, Sanders said. He urged seniors to look to other countries such as Canada for lower prices.
"I paid two-thirds less for my drugs when I got them from Australia and they didn't even charge extra postage," said Mary Lou Tree.
Toward the end of the session, local resident Warren Morse asked Sanders about the one topic he didn't discuss: his race for the U.S. Senate next year.
Sanders acknowledged the campaign would begin soon and said he would be back in Brattleboro to discuss the issues soon.
"I'll be back in Brattleboro soon for a partisan meeting," he said. "This one was strictly nonpartisan."
Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com.
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