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Ted Cruz Answers Questions from AARP Concerning Social Security

4,773 views · Published 25 September 2015 · 2:13 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: RFD-TV · 2015 · Entertainment

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Q: "Senator, my name’s Don Corrigan.  As you probably can tell, I am a volunteer for AARP.  My question is, how would you specifically reform Social Security to ensure it is on stable ground for future generations?"

A: Ted Cruz: "Well, Don, thank you for that question. It is an incredibly important question. What we’re seeing politicians in Washington do right now I think is reckless and irresponsible. They are allowing Social Security and Medicare both to careen towards insolvency. We need leadership to preserve and strengthen these vital bulwarks of our society. How can we do so? With regard to Social Security, I think we should follow four principles. Number one, for seniors, for those at retirement or near retirement, there should be no changes whatsoever. We have made promises. People have ordered their financial affairs counting on those promises. We need to honor those promises to the letter. But for younger workers, you know, I’m 44 years old. It is hard to find someone my generation who thinks Social Security will be there for us. That presents a real opportunity to reform it now for future generations. And how can we do that?  Number one, for younger workers, we should gradually increase the retirement age to recognize that people are living longer and give people time to plan their financial affairs to anticipate a later retirement age under Social Security. Number two, we should change the rate of growth in benefits of Social Security so that it matches inflation rather than exceeding inflation. Those two changes together bring Social Security into solvency. But then the third piece, and I think this is critically important for younger workers, we ought to allow them to keep a portion of their tax payments in a personal account that they own, that they control, and that they can pass on to their kids and grandkids. If we do that, and as President I intend to lead and to work to bring people together in bipartisan cooperation to actually preserve and strengthen Social Security for generations to come."

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