Social Security, a program depended on by more than 60 million mostly retired Americans, took a big step into the national spotlight last week with President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily deferring payroll taxes through the end of the year.
The move was viewed by Democrats as a signal Trump wanted to go after the federal retirement and disability benefit, which is mostly funded by payroll taxes.
“The president’s action paints a clear picture that this administration is not protecting senior citizens,” Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Eagan, said. “It is not strengthening Social Security, it is actively undermining a program millions of people depend on."
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Duluth state Rep. Jen Schultz appeared with the 2nd District congresswoman in an internet teleconference Friday to condemn what they believed was an attack on Social Security by the White House. The legislators were speaking on the 85th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing into law the Social Security Act in 1935.
Roosevelt was responding to the Great Depression then, and Trump the COVID-19 pandemic now, as he moved last week to relieve pressure on businesses and put more take-home money in people’s pockets.
“Prior to this program millions of elderly Americans struggled with extreme poverty," Craig said, adding that 40% of retirees would be reduced to poverty today without Social Security.
Schultz, a Democrat representing eastern Duluth in state house District 7A, said senior citizens don’t need added stress when they're already facing the highest risk of hospitalization and death from coronavirus.
"With so much uncertainty during this pandemic, older Americans ... shouldn't have to worry about how they're going to buy food," Schultz said, adding it was time to stop calling Social Security funding a "tax" and call it what it is — "a premium paid on retirement insurance."
Schultz’s opponent in the Nov. 3 general election, Duluth Republican Tom Sullivan, wondered if Democrats were kicking up a fuss over nothing. No government body was going to defund Social Security, he told the News Tribune, and nobody risked missing a Social Security payment.
“The last thing that’s going to go are Social Security payments to retired people and people on disability,” Sullivan said. “They’ll discontinue a heck of a lot of other program payments before they get to Social Security.”
Schultz said Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential ticket, want to keep funding Social Security by charging a fair premium.
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“Wealthy Minnesotans should not pay a smaller percentage of income than those at the bottom,” Schultz said.
State Sen. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley, said it was time to stop misinformation that Social Security is running out of money.
“T hat’s not true," he said, while acknowledging problems that need fixing. "I'm concerned that if you convince the younger generation to give up on Social Security by saying it won't be there when they need it, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy."
The current surplus is fine, Eken said, but the number of retirements is exceeding births, stressing the program to the point that reserves could run out around 2035. If Congress and the president did nothing, it could be funded at 79% until 2090, Eken said.
With the 2020 presidential election, Eken said the program is facing "a mortal threat," and that the existence of the program could be on the line.
“The solution isn’t to end Social Security,” he said. “The solution is to strengthen it.”
With Trump arriving to campaign Monday in Mankato, Craig said the president broke a promise last week he'd made in 2016 to protect Social Security. If reelected to Congress in her race against GOP-challenger Tyler Kistner, Craig said she would work to make permanent changes to protect Social Security.
"I full-heartedly believe that Social Security is a promise we simply cannot break," she said.
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