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James Webb on Social Security

Democratic Sr Senator

 


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

Opposes using Social Security taxes for private accounts

Using Social Security taxes for private accounts
AARPOpposes
George AllenNo response
Jim Webb Opposes
Q: Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?

A: Candidate Jim Webb, Democrat, chose not to make additional comments.

Source: 2006 AARP Senate candidate questionnaire , Sep 29, 2006

Voted NO on establishing reserve funds & pre-funding for Social Security.

Voting YES would:
  1. require that the Federal Old Age and Survivors Trust Fund be used only to finance retirement income of future beneficiaries;
  2. ensure that there is no change to benefits for individuals born before January 1, 1951
  3. provide participants with the benefits of savings and investment while permitting the pre-funding of at least some portion of future benefits; and
  4. ensure that the funds made available to finance such legislation do not exceed the amounts estimated to be actuarially available.

Proponents recommend voting YES because:

Perhaps the worst example of wasteful spending is when we take the taxes people pay for Social Security and, instead of saving them, we spend them on other things. Even worse than spending Social Security on other things is we do not count it as debt when we talk about the deficit every year. So using the Social Security money is actually a way to hide even more wasteful spending without counting it as debt. This Amendment would change that.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

This amendment has a fatal flaw. It leaves the door open for private Social Security accounts by providing participants with the option of "pre-funding of at least some portion of future benefits."

Make no mistake about it, this is a stalking-horse for Social Security. It looks good on the surface, but this is an amendment to privatize Social Security.
Reference: Bill S.Amdt.489 on S.Con.Res.21 ; vote number 2007-089 on Mar 22, 2007

Other candidates on Social Security: James Webb on other issues:
VA Gubernatorial:
Bob McDonnell
Ken Cuccinelli
Robert Sarvis
Terry McAuliffe
VA Senatorial:
Ed Gillespie
Mark Warner
Robert Sarvis
Tim Kaine

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