For Immediate Release: White House Rose Garden, 10:30 a.m., May 2, 2001
Contact: Hugh Newton

SENIOR CITIZENS ENDORSE BUSH BIPARTISAN COMMISSION TO IMPROVE AND STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY

Statement by 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin

Washington D.C.– I sincerely believe senior citizens, and future retirees, will be well served by the Social Security Commission created today by President George W. Bush.

This is an exciting time not only for seniors but just as importantly for our children and grandchildren for they will benefit in the future from an improved and strengthened Social Security system. President Bush has charged the commission with the responsibility to see that current and near retirees’ benefits are preserved while allowing young workers to take more control of their own financial destiny with personal retirement accounts (PRA’s).

And in the words of former Democratic New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, this system allows for ‘wealth creation’ by lower income workers. The so-called third rail of politics, ‘touch it and you die,’ should now and forever be unplugged and no longer used to scare seniors for this is the wave of the future as more than a dozen countries around the globe have already embraced this concept. Leading Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate should be working with this bipartisan commission to ensure that younger workers will have a new and improved Social Security system to serve their retirement needs

As my favorite senior citizen, my mom, has counseled me, ‘son, we seniors know that Social Security, one of our most valuable assets, is safe and secure for us, but we must see that a strengthened system will be there for our other valuable assets, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I believe I can tell my mom, my sainted mom, if you will, that President Bush is paving the way for future retirees by creation of this bipartisan commission and we thank him for his leadership in keeping a campaign promise. He says what he means and apparently means what he says.”

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60 Plus is a nine-year-old non-profit, nonpartisan group with a less government, less taxes approach to seniors’ issues. 60 Plus is supported by voluntary donations from its 500,000 citizen lobbyists to print and mail millions of letters, petitions and voting indexes. 60 Plus publishes a newsletter, SENIOR VOICE, and a SCORECARD, bestowing a GUARDIAN OF SENIORS’ RIGHTS award on lawmakers in both parties who vote “pro-senior.” 60 Plus has been called “an increasingly influential lobbying group for the elderly…”