In vowing to protect Social Security on Friday, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and her Democratic challenger, Gov. Maggie Hassan, demonstrated the gap between their approaches toward the popular but ailing retirement benefit program.
Ayotte, in a video message, emphasized the “real urgency” to address Social Security’s finances by pointing out what will happen if they’re ignored. The program is expected to become insolvent by 2034, triggering automatic benefit cuts of more than 20 percent.
Hassan, on the other hand, didn’t discuss the dwindling trust fund used to pay benefits, except to say that it “remains solid for the next couple of decades” and that “we know we have work to do to protect and strengthen the program.”
But when it comes to specific proposals, the candidates found common ground. In email interviews after the event, spokespersons for both candidates were unwilling to propose any detailed benefit cuts or tax increases.
Hassan focused her speech on a new credit she wants to implement for people who took time out of their careers to care for their families – and therefore will draw a smaller retirement benefit.
Hassan’s campaign communications director, Aaron Jacobs, said she’s willing to “work with members of both parties to reach consensus on a fiscally responsible proposal.”
But Hassan indicated she won’t tolerate benefit cuts, including the most popular Republican proposal to address lengthening life spans.
“I think it’s incredibly important to stave off any attempts to cut Social Security benefits and any attempts to raise the retirement age,” she told a crowd of seniors gathered by AARP at St. Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
Speaking on Ayotte’s behalf, spokeswoman Lauren Zelt noted the senator’s vote last fall to support the two-year bipartisan budget agreement, “which made important reforms to preserve payments to Social Security Disability Fund beneficiaries,” she said.
She also said her candidate is willing to work across the aisle on a solution, but didn’t offer any specific reforms Ayotte is proposing to cut costs.
Hassan’s spokesman pointed to a bill proposed by New York Congresswoman Nita Lowey as potential model legislation for the caregiver credit she discussed.
In a press release Lowey issued last fall, she gave the example that “someone who is a full-time caregiver would receive a credit worth around $22,000 a year, while someone who is able to work and earns $33,000 would receive a credit worth around $5,500.”
These amounts would factor into the Social Security formula that determines a retirement benefit based on earnings in a person’s career.
As for offsetting the increased spending, Hassan isn’t proposing an increase to the payroll tax cap, but it’s something that she believes should be considered, Jacobs said.
Only the first $118,500 of a worker’s income is subject to the payroll tax, which causes some policymakers to suggest that the highest earners unfairly become exempt very early in the year.
Jacobs said Hassan would consider adjusting the payroll tax cap “so that the wealthiest Americans pay into the system all year long – just like middle class families do – while also protecting middle-income earners.”
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)