President Obama’s State of the Union speech was, as to be expected, articulate and delivered well. Arizona seniors and retirees gathered to watch the speech together over some delicious food and wine. Throughout the night, emotions were up and down for the retirees in attendance, especially with the differences between the President's speech and the GOP response.
We had a few retired educators in the audience. When mentioned, No Child Left Behind received boos and Race to the Top was cheered and applauded. The educators appreciate the President's resolve to put education on top.
The retirees loved Obama’s plan for Social Security – strengthen Social Security without cutting benefits. These seniors are savvy. They’ve done their research and they know that Social Security hasn’t contributed one dime to the national debt. They know that Social Security provides economic security for millions of Americans. They want to see it continue for their children and grandchildren. So, when Obama said he wanted to strengthen Social Security for generations to come – the seniors cheered loudly. We support the President’s goal of lowering the deficit. When Congress votes this year, we will urge our state’s leaders to not cut Social Security benefits or raise the retirement age.
Seniors in Arizona get worried when they see that the two main Republican responders to President Obama’s speech were Rep. Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann, both outspoken critics of Social Security and the new benefits for Medicare in the health reform law.
In January 2010, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released The Roadmap for America’s Future, which would radically alter our nation’s social insurance programs and tax policies. According to an analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan think tank, the plan would result in massive transfer of resources from working and middle class Americans to the nation’s wealthiest individuals. The Roadmap plan is disastrous for seniors; it will: privatize Social Security, raise the retirement age, institute price indexing (as opposed to growth in wages), and turns Medicare into a voucher program. The Ryan plan does nothing to reduce the cost of health care. Instead, the burden of reducing health care expenditures would fall primarily on beneficiaries, who would face steadily rising health care costs with a steadily diminishing amount of health insurance. We can’t afford Congressman Ryan’s plan for Social Security and Medicare.
One Arizona senior watching Congressman Ryan put her feelings quite succinctly: "Gimme a break."