Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Social Security
Jeb Bush:
Allow diverting over 10% to private savings accounts
While his brother, former President George W. Bush, pursued a controversial plan to privatize Social Security, Jeb Bush said in August that he doesn't plan to take a similar path. "It would have made sense back then, now we're way beyond that," Bush said
Earlier this year, Bush took heat from critics after saying that he wants "to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something." After Democrats pounced, accusing the candidate of wanting to destroy
entitlements, Bush pushed back, saying he wanted to "reform" the program, not eliminate it.
To help increase retirement savings plans, Bush would encourage "starter 401(k) plans" for small business employees. He also favors the idea of letting small bu
Source: CNN 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Oct 27, 2015
John Kasich:
Fix Social Security by lowering benefits
We can't balance a budget without entitlement reform. What are we, kidding? He initially said young people would see "a lot" lower benefit, before correcting himself to
say perhaps not "a lot," but some amount. Kasich told reporters that Democrats "basically allowed this program to get to a point where it could go bankrupt" and said they should focus on proposals to fix the problem.
Source: CNN 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Oct 10, 2015
George Pataki:
I would not reduce social security benefits
I don't consider Social Security an entitlement. Social Security is something you paid for. When you're working, the money is taken out. I would not in any way reduce the benefits or make it more difficult for someone who has paid into Social Security to
get it. All Americans working should be a part of Social Security, and that would increase the pool of people paying to Social Security. The second thing is to grow our economy so we have fewer dependent on government.
Source: RFD-TV 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 29, 2015
James Webb:
Entitlement programs are safety net, not socialism
During this week's show, RFD-TV hosted presidential candidate and former U.S. senator Jim Webb of Virginia. Social security was one of several topics voters wanted Webb to discuss."When social security was announced," said
Webb, "there were people who said, 'Oh, this is a socialist program, you know, what are you doing here?' When Medicare was announced, 'Oh this is a socialist program, what are you doing?'"
"Well, what we were doing was putting a safety net under people," explained Webb, "who otherwise would not be able to live with dignity."
Webb went on to clarify his position, "I am a very strong believer of
preserving social security as we know it and Medicare as we know it and if we have to pay for it, we have to pay for it. We have that obligation to our citizens."
Source: RFD-TV 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 23, 2015
Carly Fiorina:
Challenge the status quo on entitlement reform
Q: Republicans say the real money to cut in domestic discretionary spending is in entitlements. So, Social Security and Medicare?FIORINA: I reject the premise of your question. There has not been real cutting going on. Every year,
Senator Tom Coburn puts together a report of fraud, waste, abuse, corruption in the federal government. It adds up to a lot of money. Nobody ever does anything about it. The professional political class--
Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio among them, but certainly not limited to them--here's where they always fail us. How long have we been talking about entitlement reform? We talk about it every election. We talk about tax reform every election. And guess what?
Nothing happens. There are binders full of great conservative ideas on how to reform Social Security and entitlements. And we will never get to it because the political class can't challenge the status quo.
Source: CNBC's 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 16, 2015
Carly Fiorina:
We can't reform entitlements until we reform government
Q: Marco Rubio was asked about President Bush's failed attempt to partially privatize Social Security, and Rubio said, "No, the time has passed for that." Do you think privatization is a useful reform?FIORINA: There are loads of great ideas on how to
make Social Security more financially solvent. I do not think there is a prayer of implementing a single one until you get a leader in the Oval Office who's prepared to challenge the status quo.
And I am not prepared to go to the American people and talk to them about how we're going to reform Social Security until I can demonstrate to them that the government can execute with excellence.
Q: Now, that is a dodge worthy of a very good
politician.
FIORINA: It's not a dodge. I am deadly serious. The American people are sick to death of politics as usual. Because we talk about all kinds of good things in election cycles. And none of it happens. None of it happens.
Source: CNBC's 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 16, 2015
Carly Fiorina:
Need to change status quo to achieve entitlement reform
How long have we been talking about entitlement reform? We talk about it every election. We talk about tax reform every election. And guess what? Nothing happens.
There are binders full of great conservative ideas on how to reform Social Security and entitlements. And we will never get to it because the political class can't challenge the status quo.
Source: CNBC's 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Sep 16, 2015
Bernie Sanders:
Raise the Social Security cap on taxable income
I believe that, as opposed to my Republican colleagues who want to cut Social Security, I believe we should expand Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income. That's not Hillary Clinton's position.
I believe that we have got to raise the minimum wage over a period of several years to $15 an hour--not Hillary Clinton's position. I voted against the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for it.
Source: CNN SOTU 2015 interview series: 2016 presidential hopefuls
Aug 30, 2015
Chris Christie:
Cut Social Security for wealthy, but don't increase taxes
Q: What should voters think of any of your rivals who say we can preserve Medicare and Social Security without cutting benefits?
CHRISTIE: They're not telling the truth. I guess the alternative could be, that they want a massive tax increase on the American people.
If they want, that's fine. Here's my attitude about it, you have two choices--either get rid of some benefits for the very wealthiest in America who don't need a
Social Security check, or you can give the government that's already lied to us and stolen from the trust fund more of your money. I don't want to give the government more of our money so they can lie more to us and steal more from us.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Aug 30, 2015
Martin O`Malley:
Without Social Security, 1 in 4 seniors would be poor
Social Security has kept millions of elderly Americans out of poverty since it was put into place in 1935. Today -- following the Great Recession, which decimated the retirement savings of millions of Americans --
Social Security remains an especially critical lifeline for our parents and grandparents: without it, more than four in 10 Americans over 65 would be living in poverty. We cannot ask seniors with modest savings to live on even less.
Source: N.Y. Times on 2015 presidential hopefuls
Aug 21, 2015
Ted Cruz:
Implement commonsense reforms for younger workers
I'm 44. It's hard to find someone in my generation who believes Social Security will be there for them. That gives us an opportunity for commonsense reforms.
We ought to gradually increase the retirement age. We ought to change the rate of increase in benefits so that it matches inflation, rather than exceeding inflation. Both those reforms would apply to people my age.
Source: CNS News 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Jun 5, 2015
Jeb Bush:
Push back the retirement age to 68 or 70
Jeb Bush wants to push back the retirement age for Social Security by as many as five years. Instead of allowing Americans to collect full benefits at age 65, Bush suggested that it should be pushed back to 68 or 70: "I think it needs to be phased in
over an extended period of time," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation.""We need to look over the horizon and begin to phase in, over an extended period of time, going from 65 to 68 or 70," he added. "And that, by itself, will help sustain the retirement
system for anybody under the age of 40."
At the same time, Bush said that he would be open to cutting back benefits for wealthy people and their beneficiaries, a reform proposal known as means testing. "I think it ought to be considered, for sure,"
Bush said.
GOP lawmakers have repeatedly talked about trying to raise the retirement age and restructure the benefit program in order to make the program more sustainable. So far, however, grand entitlement reform has remained elusive.
Source: The Hill weblog 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
May 31, 2015
Mike Huckabee:
Opposes increases the eligibility age for social security
Q: Government trustees say, without any changes, for instance Medicare's hospital insurance fund will run out of money by 2030, and the Social Security trust fund will run out of money by 2033. Governor, don't we have to find some way either raising the
eligibility age or cutting perhaps for the wealthier people to try to keep these programs solvent? I'm not saying for current retirees, but for people, a lot of reformers say, 55 and younger.HUCKABEE: The problem with people even 55 and younger,
they've been paying in for 40 years. This was not a voluntary extraction from their paycheck. It was involuntarily lifted from them, under the guise that the government would then provide for them their money back in that Social Security or Medicare
fund. One of the reasons that I'm for the FairTax is that it means that everybody will help fund Social Security and Medicare. If everybody was under a consumption tax, which is what the FairTax does, all Americans would be contributing.
Source: Fox News Sunday 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
May 24, 2015
Bobby Jindal:
Supported privatization & reform, early & enthusiastically
Jindal was for entitlement reform when entitlement reform wasn't cool. In fact, his introduction to Washington was as staff director of
Senator Phil Gramm's bipartisan commission on Medicare, which developed one of the earliest premium-support plans for the program.
Jindal was an enthusiastic backer of George W. Bush's plan for personal accounts for Social Security. As governor, Jindal has slowed state spending, but still faces a
$1.6 billion state budget shortfall brought on in part by falling oil revenue. He can claim, however, that Louisiana is one of the few states to see its credit consistently upgraded throughout his tenure.
Source: National Review 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Feb 11, 2015
Ben Carson:
Each person should be responsible for their own pension
People need pensions, particularly given the extended lifespan we are now experiencing. By changing Fed policies to allow interest rates to rise and encouraging people to put aside some of their earnings,
we can hopefully reestablish the idea that each individual is responsible for their own pension and that government programs like Social Security are only supplemental in nature.
Source: Forbes Magazine 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Jan 29, 2015
Ben Carson:
Gradually raise the age of eligibility for benefits
When Social Security was first enacted, the average age of death was about 63 years. It is now approaching 80 years and rising. We have to adjust to a changing situation. The age at which benefits are distributed should be gradually raised.
I stress the word gradually because people must be given a chance to adjust their plans and expectations. It must be forbidden for government to use money that has been set aside for Social Security.
Source: Forbes Magazine 2015 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Jan 29, 2015
Page last updated: Nov 30, 2021