Obama: Social Security privatization 'up there' on GOP's 'to-do list' [View All]

[jefferson_dem]

Obama: Social Security privatization 'up there' on GOP's 'to-do list'
By Sean J. Miller - 08/14/10 06:00 AM ET

President Obama praised Social Security as the “cornerstone in the foundation of America’s middle class” and warned against what he called Republican efforts to privatize the program.

“It’s right up there on their to-do list with repealing some of the Medicare benefits and reforms that are adding at least a dozen years to the fiscal health of Medicare,” he said in his weekly address, broadcast Saturday. “That agenda is wrong for seniors, it’s wrong for America, and I won’t let it happen.

“I’ll fight with everything I’ve got to stop those who would gamble your Social Security on Wall Street,” he said, noting the recent financial crisis saw the “wealth people worked a lifetime to earn wiped out in a matter of days.”

Obama's speech coincided with the the 75th anniversary of the Social Security Act, which was signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935.

The program ensured a steady income for American retirees but there's a growing consensus some changes are needed to sustain benefit levels.

The president promised to work with both parities to reform the system -- although he never used the words sustain or preserve in his address -- adding he was “encouraged by the reports of serious bipartisan work being done on .”

The program allows seniors to “retire with dignity,” he said. “We have an obligation to keep that promise.”

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http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/114265-obama-social-security-privatization-on-gop-to-do-list

Weekly address (Video and text) - http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/14/weekly-address-honoring-social-security-not-privatizing-it