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John Neely Kennedy on Social SecurityDemocratic Senate Challenger (LA) |
Kennedy continues to broadcast an ad titled “Scary Mary,” a retort to her accusations that Kennedy would cut Social Security because he has endorsed the idea of voluntary private retirement savings accounts. The Republican ad states that “Mary Landrieu voted to allow illegal immigrants into the Social Security system.“ The statement refers to the Senate’s 2006 debate over an immigration bill. The relevant portion deals with what kind of Social Security benefits a legal immigrant might be due for wages the immigrants earned before they established legal residence. Landrieu voted against a Republican amendment that would have prevented immigrants from receiving credit for Social Security taxes paid while their work status was not legal.
To mandate what would amount to “forced abandonment” of these systems for a quick infusion of funds into the Social Security system would be unconscionable. The proposals mandating Social Security coverage for public employees calculate that such action would only reduce Social Security’s financial shortfall by about 10 percent. To better put that in prospective, it means that Social Security’s solvency would be extended by only two years!
