2012 North Dakota Senate Debates: on Social Security

Rick Berg: 2005: Supported Bush's privatization plan as state rep

When Berg said that this attack is "what's wrong with Washington," he was met with a loud chorus of boos from the audience:

HEITKAMP: When you say "I'm going to fix it," you're going to privatize it. That was George W. Bush's plan. That's the plan you supported, Bush's privatization plan. You can't run away from that record.

BERG: This is what's wrong with Washington. People blame, blame, blame and don't come up with solutions. [Loud boos from the audience]. What we need are solutions to Social Security. There's no question. But what we need is to get our economy going.

Heidi Heitkamp: Balance budget with limited effect on Social Security

"We cannot any longer rely on ... people who are elected to office, them feeling a personal obligation to (balance the budget)," Heitkamp said. "We have to have a system in place ... that is going to create an obligation."

A Berg spokesman said that Heitkamp backed a new federal health care law that will add billions to the federal debt. Her preferred balanced-budget amendment was "rejected as a sham" by a majority of Democrats, the spokesman said.

Duane Sand: Raise retirement age; raise cap; apply means-testing

1. Reduce the combined employer-employee tax rate from 12.4% to 7.6%.
2. Establish a retirement age of 70 for everyone born after 2024.
3. Eliminate the current contribution cap, or the cap at which annual income is taxed for Social Security. The cap in 2011 was $106,800.
4. Apply means testing to Social Security benefits based on retirement income needs, which he said would allow the program to cease being an entitlement regardless of income and act as a "true safety-net program."