It's Time For Presidential Candidates to Take a Stand on Social Security

You wouldn’t know it from most news coverage, but voters really do want presidential candidates to lay out their plans to keep Social Security financially sound for future generations.

That’s why AARP’s Take A Stand campaign is calling on the major networks to push the candidates much harder on this important issue.

In Vermont, Social Security helps 138,000 people pay their bills. It keeps thousands in the middle class – and above the poverty line. Vermont residents depend on Social Security, and they want it to be there for their children and grandchildren.

They want to know more about the Social Security proposals that have quietly entered the playing field. Televised debates provide a great opportunity to serve that need. Candidates can talk about their views in detail, and really help voters understand how they and their families could be affected by changes to Social Security.

But so far this opportunity has been wasted. Moderators from the major TV networks have not pressed candidates on the subject. And on those occasions when Social Security has come up, they’ve let candidates dodge the question or speak in meaningless sound bites.  We believe it is time to go past clichés and vague generalities and have a Social Security debate that can help our country move forward.

In the coming days, Take A Stand volunteers will begin to deliver petitions to the major networks, urging them to make sure that Social Security gets its fair share of time in the political debates. Our volunteers also will use social media to draw attention to this aim.

Social Security is becoming even more important in Vermont as the country’s second oldest state. Employer pensions are vanishing. The cost of health care and other necessities keeps going up. Yet more people than ever may live into their 80s, 90s and beyond, with limited means to pay the bills. If our leaders don’t act, future retirees could lose up $10,000 a year.

So the stakes are high. Proposals that candidates offer for Social Security should be fully debated, and people should understand how these ideas could affect them and their families. All proposals should get careful consideration, with a serious discussion of pros and cons.

For example, some candidates support raising the retirement age, noting that people live years longer than when Social Security was created in the 1930s.  But what happens to people with physically demanding jobs who can’t work longer?  Some candidates say Social Security benefits should be increased, noting that many retirees struggle with low benefits. But how do we pay for benefit increases given all the budget realities?

Voters should not be left in the dark about the answers. Americans pay into Social Security throughout their working lives, and they deserve to know – in detail – how every presidential candidate would keep the promise of Social Security for future generations. If someone thinks they’re ready to be president, they should be willing to say what they would do to keep Social Security strong.

While some candidates have been more forthcoming than others, major questions remain about all their proposals, and we urge the networks to press the candidates harder on Social Security.

Having a real plan to update Social Security is a test of presidential leadership in 2016. The news networks should help us find out whether the candidates pass that test.