March 27, 2015

Warren, Manchin, Murray, Brown, Schatz Introduce budget amendment to strengthen, expand Social Security

WASHINGTON, DC - This evening, United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Joe Manchin (D- W.Va.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced a budget amendment to support a sustainable expansion of Social Security benefits and promote the long-term solvency of the Social Security and Disability Insurance trust funds. The amendment requires these changes to be fully paid-for.

"Our country faces a growing retirement crisis. Two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for most of their income in retirement, and for 15 million people, Social Security is what stands between them and poverty," Senator Warren said. "We need to keep our promises to America's seniors, and that means strengthening and expanding Social Security."

"It is time this Congress sets our priorities based on American values. In my eyes, the highest priority should be the seniors who belong to the greatest generation who helped build this nation into what it is today. We must make it clear that for those seniors, Social Security is a promise they can count on. This amendment begins the process of putting differences aside in order to keep our promises to our seniors by protecting Social Security beneficiaries while working to ensure the long-term solvency of this vital program. Senator Warren and I are committed to making sure the Social Security Trust Fund remain permanently solvent so that this great promise will be available for generations to come," Senator Manchin said.

"We owe it to seniors and workers across the country to make sure that Social Security is not just protected and strengthened, but also expanded to meet the retirement needs of the workforce in the 21st century economy," said Senator Murray. "After a lifetime of work, seniors have earned the right to know that their Social Security benefits will be there for them when they retire, and will be there for their children and grandchildren too."

Text of the amendment is available here.

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