2006 Minnesota Senate Debate: on Social Security

Amy Klobuchar: No raising retirement age; no cost of living increase

KLOBUCHAR: I believe that if we can shore up this deficit and balance the budget, that we can then start shoring up Social Security. This Congress has raided $925 billion from Social Security. And you go back to the Clinton administration.

Q: Would you raise the retirement age?

KLOBUCHAR: I don’t believe that is the solution.

Q: Cost of living increase?

KLOBUCHAR: I don’t believe that’s the solution. If we can get that balanced budget in place, we’re going to be able to secure Social Security for the future [as we had under Clinton]

Q: With no changes in the system?

KLOBUCHAR: We can have a bipartisan commission look at those changes. They should be options to be looked at, but it would be a hard sell on me because I believe our priority should be to balance the budget. There is a better way to do this by being fiscally responsible instead of giving billions of dollars in oil giveaways.