Retirement Security

"I see a new vision for American seniors. I see a country where all citizens can retire with full benefits at age 65, where Social Security will never become privatized, and where retirement years won't land in the hands of the stock market. I see an America where equal access and equal rights are obtained by all; where health care is regarded as a human right; and where the people who have lived to see this country grow can continue to grow old with it in peace." - Dennis

We must work every day to ensure the protection and strengthening of the programs that have provided retirement security for millions and millions of seniors for decades. We cannot balance the budget on the backs of seniors.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are lifelines for millions of seniors across this country. Under the guise of fiscal discipline, we have seen unprecedented attacks on these programs over the past decade.  They are cornerstones of the Democratic Party and - more importantly - well established principles of economic and social justice in America.

Tax, trade and economic policy, along with stagnant or falling wages, have fueled the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich. The top 1%, those earning over some $350,000 a year, received 37.8% of the income from wealth in 1979 according to the Congressional Research Service; in 2003 they received 57.5%. In a world where the rich are getting richer, much richer, it is part of the ongoing war on the middle class to fund deficit reduction by cutting Social Security benefits to the middle class.

Social Security has nothing to do with the current deficit. The program can pay 100% of its benefits through 2037 without any changes. It has a $2.6 trillion surplus and would be completely solvent if the income cap were removed.

Money paid into Social Security isn't the government's money to play with. They're the benefits that our seniors paid for and depend on. Social Security must be protected from plans to “fix” it. Current plans call for a reckless gamble by shifting funds to private accounts based on the whims of the market. That’s just not fair.

Medicare is an efficient, effective program, which must not only be guarded, but also expanded to all Americans. Along with Congressman John Conyers, Jr,, Dennis has written a bill that would do just that - HR 676.

“What’s at stake here is the faith of the America people in their economic system. The American dream is to work hard, get ahead, give your life to a company, save with a secure, decent retirement pension. That dream is being destroyed by corporate executives who are cheating people out of their hard-earned retirement benefits.” - Dennis

It is vital that the pensions of working people are honored and protected.  Corporations must hold sacred those commitments they make to their workers in pensions. Underfunded and neglected pensions are unacceptable, and, along with the renegotiation of pensions, violate the commitment held between employer and employee.