Fact Sheets and Position Papers
Expanding Social Security Position Paper
Today 66 million Americans – one out of every five households – relies on Social Security’s lifetime, guaranteed benefits.
To continue to provide retirement security for current and future generations, it is time to strengthen and expand Social Security and increase benefits. Many members of Congress recognize the need for action and are proposing legislation that will ensure the Social Security system remains strong and Americans receive the benefits they have earned
RSC Budget Proposal Position Paper
The Republican Study Committee (RSC), a House Caucus consisting of 175 members out of a total Republican House Caucus of 222 members (nearly 80%), proposed a budget that would, if enacted, increase Social Security’s full retirement age to 69 and subsidize private insurance options to compete with traditional Medicare, potentially transforming the program into a type of privatized voucher program.
The Alliance strongly rejects this approach and believes that any changes to Social Security and Medicare must start from the premise that the benefits the American people have earned and deserve are a sacred promise between workers and the government that must be kept intact and expanded for future generations.
Threats to Social Security
For decades Social Security has delivered guaranteed, lifetime benefits on time and without interruption to generations of Americans. Beneficiaries earn their Social Security, contributing into the system with every paycheck.
Sixty-five million older Americans, people with disabilities and family members of deceased workers – one out of every five households – relies on Social Security.
In the 118th Congress a growing number of legislators are promoting ideas that put these earned benefits at risk.
Social Security Current Facts and Figures
Nearly 182 million workers contribute to Social Security through payroll taxes. Details like benefit amounts and premiums change each year.
Our fact sheet has the latest figures for 2023.
Medicaid Fact Sheet
Medicaid is a social safety net program that provides health coverage for pregnant women, children, the disabled and seniors with low-incomes.
PRO Act Position Paper
The labor movement has been, and continues to be, the leading force in the fight to strengthen Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, ensuring a measure of retirement security for all Americans. Our country, our democracy and our people benefit when workers have a strong voice at work and are able to join together to build a more secure future for their families and their communities.
To strengthen workers’ voices on the job, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, H.R. 20, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced it in the U.S. Senate.
Increasing the Debt Ceiling
The debt ceiling is a legal restriction on how much money the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. Congress instituted the debt ceiling in 1917 as a way to rein in federal agencies that were ignoring Congress and setting their own budgets, and it has been raised 78 times since 1960.
The Alliance for Retired Americans supports increasing the debt ceiling with no strings attached to it. Moreover, the Alliance is strongly opposed to the harmful cuts to Social Security, Medicare and the federal budget as a whole proposed by the Republican Party.
Inflation Reduction Act Fact Sheet
One in four people over the age of 65 report not taking at least one prescription drug as prescribed due to its cost. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical corporations are making record profits, lining the pockets of their executives and shareholders while patients struggle to afford the drugs they need to stay healthy.
To help reverse the pharmaceutical industry’s stranglehold on our health care system, on August 16, 2022 President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. It means lower prescription drug prices for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.
Social Security Fairness Act
The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) were enacted in 1977 and 1983 respectively as amendments to the basic Social Security law. These provisions reduce Social Security benefits for public sector retirees who receive a public pension or the spouse or survivor of a Social Security beneficiary who worked for a period of time in a job not covered by the Social Security program.
In January 2023, Representatives Garret Graves (LA) and Abigail Spanberger (VA) introduced the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82). Companion legislation has also been introduced in the Senate (S 597) by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME). The bill would repeal the WEP and GPO provisions and allow those affected to keep the full Social Security benefits they or their spouses earned.
Social Security and Medicare Facts and Figures
Nearly 182 million workers contribute to Social Security and Medicare through payroll taxes. Details like benefit amounts and premiums change each year.
Our fact sheet has the latest figures for 2023.
