[P]HILADELPHIA — The Seniors caucus presented the Democratic Party’s positions on Social Security in a meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Max Richmond of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, who participated in platform debates, said the 2016 platform defines Social Security as a benefit, not an entitlement program. “An entitlement is what you receive because you’re living and breathing, not because you pay for it,” he said. With every paycheck that workers receive, they pay into Social Security.”
The new platform also clarifies the sources of the retirement benefits pay gap among men and women. According to the Social Security Administration, the average man over 65 receives nearly $4,000 more per year in benefits than the average woman over 65.
Women’s Social Security benefits are lower, Richmond says, because they make less money over their lifetime, because of the gender pay gap and childrearing.
State Rep. Kevin Christie, D-Windsor, who attended the meeting, said Social Security-related platform positions are important for Vermont. “We have a very gray state, we’re working hard to figure out strategies to make it less gray and we will continue, but as long as it is where we are, it’s mission critical to Vermont.”
He also said the meeting will help him craft legislation that will support these policy priorities.
The new platform is not binding, but it clarifies the Democratic Party’s intention for the upcoming elections and beyond. “All of us will do whatever we can to ensure that our nominee and hopefully our president will adhere to items in the platform,” Richmond said.
