Social Security
Safeguarding Americans’ Retirement Security
Senator Reed is committed to ensuring that Social Security remains strong and viable for millions of Americans. Today, about 200,000 Rhode Islanders receive Social Security benefits.
Throughout his career, Reed has repeatedly voted to keep Social Security on sound financial footing and strongly opposes efforts to privatize the program or use it to pay for new tax breaks.
Given its structure and design, Social Security cannot contribute to the federal deficit. Senator Reed has worked to protect the Social Security Trust Fund from being diverted to other programs or used for government spending.
Read More »Senator Reed strongly believes we must encourage more personal savings and investment for retirement, but it should not be at the expense of Social Security, the one program that offers stable, guaranteed income security to the elderly, disabled, and widows. It is important that we honor our promise to those who have worked hard and paid into the system to provide themselves, family members, and fellow Americans with a safety net.
In 1980, Social Security taxes covered 90 percent of wages, but due to rising wage inequality it now covers just 83 percent. As a result, today, people earning under $107,000 per year are saddled with a greater burden than the wealthiest Americans in their Social Security payroll contributions. Senator Reed supports capturing annual earned income above $107,000 in the wage base for Social Security contributions to help ensure that high-income earners contribute a fair share of their wages to Social Security to stabilize the system for future generations.
Key Priorities & Accomplishments
- Reed helped block proposals to privatize Social Security and make deep cuts in benefits.
- Secured over $50 million in the Recovery Act for one-time $250 payments to nearly 180,000 Rhode Islanders who rely on Social Security.
- Supported efforts to ensure that the Social Security Administration receives the resources necessary to help process claims more rapidly and reduce backlogs in the claims determination process.
- To help make it easier for Americans to save for retirement on their own, Reed has supported pension portability initiatives, so workers won’t lose their pension if they change jobs.
The Latest
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Reed Seeks to Protect & Preserve Social Secuirty
Posted on 4/1/2011 | -
RI Delegation Announces $250 in Economic Recovery Payments for 179,353 RI Social Security Recipients to Begin Going Out Tomorrow; Expected to Bring $51 Million State
Today, the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation announced that social security recipients will receive one-time, $250 economic recovery payments beginning tomorrow, May 7th with the goal of getting them all out by the end of this month. By mid-May, payments to recipients of Sup...
Posted on 5/6/2009 | -
Trustees' Report Again Shows No Social Security Crisis, But Challenges for Medicare
he Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual report today, which, like last years report, shows that Social Security does not face a funding crisis anytime in the near future, but the challenges facing Medicare are more immediate. Social Security will be able to pay full b...
Posted on 5/1/2006 | -
Floor Statement on the Presidents Plan to Privatize Social Security
MR. REED: Mr. President, I rise today to express my deep concern about the direction that the President is taking the country in terms of our Nation's commitment to providing retirement security to the elderly and income security to the disabled, widows, and survivors. I am speaking, of course, about the Presid...
Posted on 3/8/2006 | -
Statement by U.S. Senator Jack Reed on the 70th Anniversary of Social Security
Marking the 70th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today stated, Seventy years after President Franklin Roosevelt and Francis Perkins worked to establish the Social Security program; it continues...
Posted on 8/14/2005 | -
Floor Statement on the Presidents Proposal to Tie Social Security Benefits to Prices Rather Than Wages
MR. REED: Mr. President, I rise today to express my deep concern about the President's proposal to peg initial Social Security benefits to the growth in prices rather than wages, and the negative impact this so-called progressive price indexing scheme would have on future retirees. The current method of calculat...
Posted on 6/29/2005 | -
Floor Statement on Protecting Social Security
MR. REED: Mr. President, I rise to express my deep concern about the negative impact the President's proposals that carve out private accounts will have on our Social Security system and also on our mounting Federal debt and the solvency of our Social Security Program in general and, ultimately, the economic pro...
Posted on 4/8/2005 |