Jerry McNerney on Social Security Democrat

$712 billion for private accounts puts future in danger

Require small businesses to allow automatic IRA deposits.

Women's Retirement Security Act of 2008: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to increase the retirement security of women and small business owners. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to:

1. require certain small employers who do not provide retirement plans for their employees to allow eligible employees to participate in a payroll deposit individual retirement account arrangement (automatic IRA);
2. expand eligibility for the tax credit for retirement savings contributions (saver's credit) and make such credit refundable;
3. allow part-time employees to participate in qualified cash or deferred arrangements;
4. allow the transfer of up to $500 of unused health plan benefits to qualified retirement plans;
5. treat wage replacement income (e.g., disability pay or unemployment compensation) as earned income for purposes of IRA contribution limits; and
6. allow self-employed individuals to deduct pension plan contributions from their self-employment income.

Rated 96% by ARA, indicating a pro-Trust Fund stance.

Scoring system for 2014: Ranges from 0% (supports privatization and other market-based reforms) to 100% (supports keeping federal control over Trust Fund and Social Security system).

About ARA (from their website, www.RetiredAmericans.org):

The Alliance for Retired Americans is a nationwide organization, founded in May 2001, with now over 4.2 million members working together to make their voices heard in the laws, policies, politics, and institutions that shape our lives. The mission of the Alliance for Retired Americans is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security.

• Alliance members visit the polls in record numbers. We use the power of our membership and our Congressional Voting Record to educate and mobilize seniors to elect leaders committed to improving the lives of retirees and older Americans.
• We are effectively warding off cuts to our most important social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Our Human Chain Against the Chained CPI events in the summer of 2013 took place in more than 50 cities and mobilized support for stopping this cut to earned Social Security benefits.
• We blocked the privatization of Social Security with our Social Security "Truth Truck" delivering 2.1 million petitions to Members of Congress and other tactics.
• The Alliance makes its voice heard on the issues that matter not just to current retirees, but to all Americans who hope to retire one day. We were a leading voice in recent debates considering changes to Medicare, like replacing guaranteed benefits with a voucher system, and remain so in 2014.

Endorsed Endorsed by NCPSSM for protecting Social Security and Medicare.

76 Congressional candidates in 2022 were endorsed and/or supported by the NCPSSM PAC. The mission of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, a membership organization, is to protect, preserve, promote, and ensure the financial security, health, and the well being of current and future generations of maturing Americans.

NCPSSM was founded in 1982 to serve as an advocate for the landmark federal programs of Social Security and Medicare and for all Americans who seek a healthy, productive and secure retirement. With millions of members and supporters across America, we are the nation's second-largest grassroots citizens organization devoted to the retirement future for all citizens -- from our "20-something" generation and baby-boomers to the nation's 34 million seniors.