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Rick Santorum on Social Security
Republican Jr Senator (PA)
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Supports privatization if voluntary
| Using Social Security taxes for private accounts |
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| AARP | Opposes |
| Bob Casey | Opposes |
| Rick Santorum | Supports |
Q: Will
you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?A: I only support using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts if such an option is voluntary. I believe that Social Security must remain a program that our children &
grandchildren can depend on-we owe it to them to provide for their retirement security as they have provided for current and previous generations. As proposals for strengthening and improving this valuable system for future retirees are considered,
I believe that all options should remain on the table. I take seriously my responsibility of working to protect current and near retirees, while ensuring sustainable financial security and peace of mind for future generations.
Source: AARP Senate candidate questionnaire
Sep 29, 2006
Switched from raising retirement age to personal accounts
Q: When you ran first for the Senate in 1994 you said, “You can raise taxes, you can cut benefits, or you can push back the retirement age in the future.” You also said, “It is ridiculous if we have a retirement age in this country of age 65 today.
Push it back to at least 70. I’d go even farther if I could, but I don’t think I could pass it.” Will you push retirement age back because of the huge influx of baby boomers?
SANTORUM: Yeah, everybody in Pennsylvania has seen that quote because it’s
been out on [Casey’s] advertisement.
Q: Well, you said it.
SANTORUM: I did say it. But I’ve had 12 years in the US Senate and I haven’t introduced or voted for anything like that because I think that there’s a better way. The alternatives at the
time, as you heard me lay out, were either raise taxes or cut benefits or push back the retirement age. I think there’s a third option now that I have been an advocate for, and that’s personal retirement accounts.
Source: PA 2006 Senate Debate, Tim Russert moderator
Sep 3, 2006
Guaranteed benefit if over 50; personal account if younger
SANTORUM: I have a three-step concrete approach to dealing with Social Security. #1, pass the Social Security Guarantee Act, which says that if you’re born before 1950, your benefits cannot be changed and your cost of living increases are guaranteed. #2,
take the surplus that’s coming in right now and actually put it into individual accounts so people have ownership of this surplus instead of the money being raided to pay for current government expenditures. And #3, give younger workers the opportunity
to have personal retirement accounts. Those personal retirement accounts will grow faster and produce more. So my question is, if you’re not for personal retirement accounts, how much are you going to raise their taxes? Or how much are you going to cut
benefits to fix Social Security?CASEY: I don’t agree with your premise. I don’t think you’re talking about a crisis. The crisis is privatization. Your guarantee is what The Philadelphia Inquirer called “snake oil.”
SANTORUM: That’s no answer.
Source: PA 2006 Senate Debate, Tim Russert moderator
Sep 3, 2006
Raise retirement age? Maybe. Private investment? Yes.
Senator Santorum, on a videotape made in 1994, said he planned to raise the retirement age for Social Security benefits and to privatize the program. Santorum says he believes that Social Security should not be paid out until workers hit
the age of 70. “It is ridiculous that we have a retirement age in this country of age 65 today,” Santorum says emphatically, noting that many people receive benefits for two decades before dying. “Push it back to at least age 70,” continues the
senator. “I’d go even further if I could, but I don’t think I could pass it.”Santorum has since backed away from raising the retirement age, but he’s in the forefront of pushing for younger workers to be allowed to invest
part of their payroll taxes themselves. He says it is their money and they have a right to try for better returns than the program currently provides.
Source: Jill Zuckman, Boston Globe, p. A1 & A12
May 15, 2000
Social Security needs reform sooner rather than later
Santorum says the Social Security program is in grave danger of going bankrupt and if the future insolvency is not addressed now, it will be much more difficult to deal with later. “There’s an absolute certainty that Social
Security will run out of money, and benefits will be cut and taxes will go up,” Santorum said. “[Democrats] are ignoring the fact that Social Security is in trouble; they’re just saying, ‘Oh, this is a risky scheme.’”
Source: Jill Zuckman, Boston Globe, p. A12
May 15, 2000
Voted YES on Social Security Lockbox & limiting national debt.
This vote limited debate on the amendment offered by Sen. Abraham (R-MI) that would have created a Social Security "lockbox" and establish limits on the public debt. [A YES vote was for a lockbox]. This vote failed because 3/5 of the Senate did not vote.
Status: Cloture Motion Rejected Y)54; N)45; NV)1
Reference: Motion to invoke cloture on Amdt #254 to S. 557;
Bill S. 557
; vote number 1999-90
on Apr 22, 1999
Voted YES on allowing Roth IRAs for retirees.
Senator Roth (R-DE) offered this amendment to the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act to allow people older than 70.5 with incomes over $100,000 to move funds from an Individual Retirement Account into a Roth IRA.
Status: Amdt Agreed to Y)56; N)42; NV)2
Reference: Roth Amdt #2339;
Bill H.R. 2676
; vote number 1998-120
on May 6, 1998
Voted YES on allowing personal retirement accounts.
Vote on an amendment expressing the sense of the Senate that the Finance Committee should consider legislation to use the federal budget surplus to establish personal retirement accounts as a supplement to Social Security.
Reference:
Bill S.Con.Res.86
; vote number 1998-56
on Apr 1, 1998
Voted YES on deducting Social Security payments on income taxes.
Vote on an amendment to establish an income tax deduction for Social Security taxes paid by employees and the self-employed.
Reference:
Bill S Con Res 57
; vote number 1996-140
on May 22, 1996
Rated 10% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record.
Santorum scores 10% by the ARA on senior issues
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. The Alliance believes that all older and retired persons have a responsibility to strive to create a society that incorporates these goals and rights and that retirement provides them with opportunities to pursue new and expanded activities with their unions, civic organizations and their communities.
The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization's preferred position.
Source: ARA website 03n-ARA on Dec 31, 2003
Page last updated: Nov 23, 2009