Kevin Cramer on Social Security

Increase retirement age; raise the wage cap

A: Incremental increase in age in out years by about 6 months. Slight means test and raise the wage cap slightly

Advocate for private sector options

Kevin Cramer (R): Yes. Advocate for private sector options.

Heidi Heitkamp (D): No. Opposes.

Doing nothing is not an option; more private sector options

Social Security needs major reforms that should be implemented for those 55 years old and younger, reforms that include gradually raising the retirement age and that introduce more private sector options and means testing. For those 55+, the Social Security benefits promised to them need to be protected and delivered.

These programs must be dealt with apart from the politics of discretionary spending. The first step is to admit they are not sustainable in their current form, and then have a transparent debate of ideas that deal with reality.

Allow future workers to invest more of their own money

A: Yes. Social Security ought to be preserved and made available as promised to seniors and soon-to-be seniors who have paid in with an expectation of receiving benefits. We should implement a program to reform and save it for future generations. Included in the reforms should be means testing, raising retirement age and allowing workers to invest more of their own money.

Supports personal retirement accounts.

Project Vote Smart infers candidate issue stances on key topics by summarizing public speeches and public statements. Congressional candidates are given the opportunity to respond in detail; about 11% did so in the 2012 races.

Project Vote Smart summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: 'Social Security: Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts?'

Rated 10% by ARA, indicating a pro-privatization 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.