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Jim Costa on Social Security
Democratic Representative (CA-20)
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Strengthen Trust Funds and take them off-budget.
Costa adopted the Blue Dog Coalition letter:
Blue Dog budget framework - Take the Social Security and Medicare trust fund surpluses off-budget and require that the trust fund surpluses be saved for Social Security and Medicare
- Reserve half of the on-budget surplus over the next five years -- $370 billion -- for debt reduction and strengthening Social Security and Medicare
- Allocate one-quarter of the on-budget surplus over the next five years for investments in priorities identified by the President and supported by both parties in Congress, including defense, Medicare prescription drugs, education, agriculture, low-income programs and veterans.
- Devote one-quarter of the on-budget surplus to tax cuts retroactive to 2001, for a net tax cut of $180 billion from 2001-2006.
Source: Blue Dog Coalition letter to the Senate 01-BDC5 on May 9, 2001
Rated 91% by ARA, indicating a pro-Trust Fund stance.
Costa scores 91% Alliance for Retired Americans
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.
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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.
Source: ARA lifetime rating on incumbents of 113th Congress 14_ARA on Jan 1, 2013
Page last updated: Feb 01, 2022