Most discussions regarding Social Security benefits focus on cuts or how to save Social Security, but U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I), is making his case to increase Social Security benefits.
Sanders recently wrote an opinion piece for USA Today advocating for seniors and the disabled by expanding and strengthening Social Security, not cutting benefits. He said Social Security is the tool Congress should use to ensure seniors and the disabled are not left out in the cold, and that right now, no one is paying attention to the needs of seniors.
“For too long, Congress and the media have ignored the pressing concerns of seniors in our country. At a time when millions of elderly Americans are struggling economically, unable to pay for medicine, food and other basic necessities, a serious discussion about senior needs is long overdue. And, at the top of the list for a sensible and humane senior agenda is the need to make clear that we are going to expand and strengthen Social Security, not cut it,” Sanders wrote.
We have seen from many different studies how successful and how popular Social Security is. Sanders points to a study in 2016 that showed 22 million Americans were lifted out of poverty, including 15 million seniors, because of the Social Security benefits they received. If you look at how things were before Social Security and how they are now, it is hard to ignore that Social Security is keeping millions of people out of poverty every year.
“Before it was created in 1935, about half of our nation’s seniors were living in poverty. Today their poverty rate is just 8.8 percent,” Sanders wrote.
Although many people see Sanders’ plan to increase Social Security benefits as a long shot during the current political climate, he is making progress. Sanders and some of his colleagues have started the Expand Social Security caucus, which has 19 senators and 140 members of the House signed-up to fight for Social Security benefits.
