Gov. Charlie Crist says in a new television ad that hes against raising the retirement age as an option for keeping Social Security solvent, and criticizes Republican U.S. Senate rival Marco Rubio for proposing to raise the retirement age and reduce benefits.
Work longer, get by on less. Thats the Marco Rubio retirement plan, the ad says.
In a retiree haven like Florida, its no surprise the program has been largely an untouchable sacred cow in the states politics. There are currently more than 2.5 million retirees in Florida on Social Security and reductions in benefits or changes in eligibility elicit strong reactions here.
But with nearly 80 million baby boomers hitting retirement age and a smaller pool of people to pay into the system, current estimates have the Social Security surplus running out in 2037, a deadline spurring one of the most fractious debates of this midterm congressional election what to do about it.
Rubio has suggested that Congress should address the problem by changing the retirement age for future retirees and recalculating the inflation index. Rubio has said repeatedly he wants the benefits and requirements to remain the same for current beneficiaries already drawing Social Security, but that future beneficiaries may have to accept changes.
Younger workers like myself were going to have to accept that theres going to be some changes, Rubio said recently on CBS Face the Nation. Perhaps theyre going to have to change the way the benefit is indexed. Perhaps were going to have to continue to allow the retirement age to fluctuate as it has been doing since the early 1980s. But again, thats for younger workers like myself that have 20 or 30 years to prepare for this.
Rubio pointed out in the same interview that his mother, who is 80, is one of those current beneficiaries who rely on Social Security as their only source of income, and emphasized that people currently drawing checks shouldnt see any change. Nationally, about 50 million people draw Social Security checks.
Crist has said he would keep benefits and the retirement age as is, and tried to highlight that as a contrast with Rubios proposal to change it. But the governor, who left the Republican Party in April, has made only one suggestion about what to do about the looming shortfall. Crist has suggested that if more immigrants already in the country illegally were to be granted a path to citizenship, they could help prop up Social Security.
Studies show that 11 to 14 million people are in the country as noncitizens, and if we are willing to have a thoughtful, reasonable pathway to citizenship -- earning citizenship -- then those 11 to 14 million people can become productive, participating members of the American economy, paying the payroll taxes, helping Social Security going forward, and making America stronger financially," Crist told The Huffington Post last week.
Most experts and federal officials, however, say generally that Crists idea wont work the way he says. Thats because Social Security actuaries say about two-thirds of undocumented workers are already paying into the system through their jobs, though most dont get any benefits. In fact, advocates for immigrants recently trumpeted a report from the systems chief actuary that said undocumented immigrants already prop up the Social Security system -- to the tune of about $12 billion in 2007.
The Democrat in the U.S. Senate race, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, says in campaign literature that he is a firm opponent of gambling with seniors benefits by privatizing the program or raising the retirement age.
Meek has said in campaign appearances and interviews that he wants to have a federal commission look at the long-term health of the Social Security program. Crist has criticized that position because he has said such commissions are likely to raise the eligibility age.
Meek also says hes the only candidate in the race who hasnt at some point favored privatizing Social Security.
A few years ago, Republicans suggested allowing some of the money to go into private accounts but Democrats suggested that could be a disaster if the stock market tanked, which it did a couple of years ago. Since then, most of the talk has been about restructuring or recalibrating benefits for future beneficiaries, or delaying them by raising the retirement age.
Crist in 1998 suggested shifting some of Social Securitys assets into private accounts, but more recently has said he no longer favors that approach.
Crist came in for criticism on Tuesday from the conservative Weekly Standard for his new ad criticizing Rubio, which the publication said was a ploy to scare seniors by misleading them on what Rubio would support.
The publication reminded readers that Crist led a legislative investigation into allegations that Gov. Lawton Chiles gave the OK for scare calls to senior voters during his 1994 gubernatorial campaign. The ads accused Chiles Republican opponent, Jeb Bush, of wanting to end Social Security.
The Weekly Standard noted that Crist at the time called the ads unethical.
That was then, apparently, it said.
