Washington, D.C. - Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) convened a town hall meeting at the Rockville Senior Center on February 25 to discuss the future of Social Security. Van Hollen spoke about the President’s plan to privatize Social Security and what it would mean for the benefits of his constituents. He released the following statement:
“The Social Security system has been an economic lifeline to millions of senior citizens. The system is not in crisis. Adjustments must be made to ensure that the trust fund can pay full benefits beyond 2052, but there is no need for a wholesale restructuring of the program. Proposals to privatize Social Security in part have two serious flaws.
“First, substituting investments in private accounts for Social Security payments will inevitably increase the financial risks for seniors. Second, the projected transition costs of plans to partially privatize Social Security amount to trillions of dollars. At a time when Uncle Sam is already running a huge $7.5 trillion debt it would be unwise to add more red ink to the national credit card. We should not be gambling with the retirement security of America’s seniors or the economic security of the United States.
“We should encourage more individuals to save for their retirement. In that regard, providing incentives to create private accounts would be a useful step. But these accounts should be a supplement to, not a substitute for, Social Security.”