Following the release of the White House budget proposal for fiscal year 2014, AARP says it is “dismayed” at the cuts it includes that will be harmful to the aging population.
Pointing to Social Security and Medicare cuts, AARP says it is concerned about the retirement savings and mechanisms retirees rely upon and urges the president to reconsider.
“As the President and Congress work to address the budget challenges facing our nation, AARP believes it is time for responsible solutions, not harmful proposals that would hurt older Americans and threaten the retirement security of future generations,” said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond in a statement. “AARP is deeply dismayed that President Obama would propose cutting the benefits of current and future Social Security recipients, including children, widows, veterans and people with disabilities, to reduce the deficit. Social Security is a self-financed program that doesn’t contribute to the deficit, so it shouldn’t be cut to reduce it.”
The budget, as proposed, includes a chained consumer price index that would reduce Social Security benefits “significantly” over the next decade, AARP says, a measure that is opposed strongly by the organization and by 84% of voters aged 50 and older.
“As retirement security grows ever more elusive for Americans of all ages, Medicare and Social Security have become increasingly important for today’s retirees and their kids and grandkids,” LeaMond says. “AARP believes it is wrong for the President to try to balance the budget by weakening the programs that provide the very foundation of retirement security for current and future generations.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
