Printable Version
April 27, 2005
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
For Immediate Release |
THREE NEW SOCIAL SECURITY TRUTH TRUCK TOURS DESTINED FOR LAWMAKERS' HOME DISTRICTS - Alliance for Retired Americans Plans Tours In New England, Upper Midwest, Northwest
Washington, DC—Building on the success of its 16-stop, six-state Social Security Truth Truck Tour of the East Coast, The Alliance for Retired Americans today announced three additional tours will visit New England, the Upper Midwest, and Northwest between May and July. The centerpiece of the tour is a flatbed truck carrying more than a million messages to Congress from seniors against privatizing Social Security.
"The first Truth Truck Tour was so successful in enabling seniors to express their concerns to Members of Congress about the short and long-term dangers of privatizing Social Security that we wanted to bring this message to other parts of the country," said George J. Kourpias, president of the Alliance, a nationwide grassroots organization representing more than 3 million seniors and retirees. "These three additional tours will visit the states and districts of key Members of Congress as a way of making local seniors' views loud and clear to their elected representatives: don't privatize Social Security."
The New England tour begins the morning of May 2 in Bangor, Maine and will make six additional stops in five states, ending May 6 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After visiting Portland on the afternoon of May 2, the truck will then make its way to Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut (see itinerary below).
At rallies in each state local Alliance leaders and seniors who signed the "Don't Privatize Social Security" petition will deliver to their Representatives' district offices the names of local petitioners. The petitions were collected by the Alliance as part of its campaign opposing Social Security privatization.
"Any plans to rip holes in a crucial safety net that keeps almost half of America's seniors out of poverty will have to face off against all the energies and political clout of the senior movement. We're fighting to save Social Security for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren."
The Alliance's Social Security Truth Truck Tours coincides with a recent admission by White House and Republican strategists that seniors are not only Social Security's "gatekeeper," but also the one group capable of derailing President Bush's campaign to privatize the 70-year-old government program. Older Americans, more so than any other age group are against private accounts, recent polls indicate. In addition, they are skeptical that their benefits would be protected if the system were privatized.
These sentiments and beliefs, coupled with fact that seniors exert great influence and play an outsized role in the general and Congressional elections, is not lost on the president or GOP strategists. The administration's 60-day campaign to promote private accounts is increasingly being tailored to 55+ audiences.
"The president didn't realize when he decided to invent the Social Security 'crisis' that he was actually creating a crisis of his own," Kourpias said. "He chose to focus his attentions on young Americans and tried to create a new notion of what retirement security should be about. What he didn't bargain for, or chose to ignore, was the reaction of seniors. They know, as most Americans today agree, that Social Security needs to be fixed. It needs to be strengthened so that it can pay the guaranteed benefits Americans earn and deserve for generations to come."
Kourpias added that Social Security's effect on reducing poverty among the country's elderly population is remarkable. He noted that the income provided by Social Security has helped nearly 13 million seniors 65 and older to live above the poverty line. Without Social Security, nearly half of America's elderly population - 46.8% - would be living below the poverty line. The federal poverty line is $9,060 for a single elderly person, or $11,411 for an elderly couple. Today, of the more than 47 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits, 33 million are seniors.
Itinerary for the New England leg of the next Social Security Truth Truck Tour: Thousands of Miles, Millions of Voices:
Monday, May 2:
Bangor & Portland, Maine
Tuesday,
May 3: Montpellier, Vermont
Wednesday,
May 4: Concord, New Hampshire
Thursday, May 5: East Providence, Rhode
Island
Friday May 6: New Britain &
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Details for each stop are available upon request.
A tour of the Upper Midwest is planned for early June and the truck will visit the Northwest in early July. Details and itineraries for those tours will be available in the coming weeks.