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Top Republican: Raise Social Security's retirement age to 70
The Hill ^

Posted on 06/29/2010 8:23:18 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

Top Republican: Raise Social Security's retirement age to 70 By Michael O'Brien - 06/29/10 10:50 AM ET

A Republican-held Congress might look to raise the retirement age to 70, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested Monday.

Boehner, the top Republican lawmaker in the House, said that raising the retirement age by five year, indexing benefits to the rate of inflation and means-testing benefits would make the massive entitlement program more solvent.

"We're all living a lot longer than anyone ever expected," Boehner said in a meeting with the editors of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "And I think that raising the retirement age -- going out 20 years, so you're not affecting anyone close to retirement -- and eventually getting the retirement age to 70 is a step that needs to be taken."

The GOP leader said that Social Security was the most important entitlement to reform, though he also pledged that Republicans would bring legislation to the floor to repeal and replace the healthcare reforms passed earlier this year if the GOP wins back control of the House this fall.

But Boehner also floated several other reforms to Social Security, paired with raising the retirement age, to make it more solvent. Boehner said that benefits should be tied to increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) instead of wage inflation, and he suggested reducing or eliminating benefits to Americans with a "substantial non-Social Security income" while retired.

"We just need to be honest with people," he said. "I'm not suggesting it's going to be easy, but I think if we did those three things, you'd pretty well solve the problem."

Republican have made cutting spending and reforming entitlement programs a key part of their 2010 campaign message.

Watch the entirety of Boehner's explanation below:


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: boehner
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To: Frenchtown Dan

Didn’t bother to read did you?


41 posted on 06/29/2010 8:36:24 AM PDT by MileHi ( "It's coming down to patriots vs the politicians." - ovrtaxt)
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To: Sub-Driver
John Boehner (R-Ohio)

Bet you Boehner collects upwards of $100,000 per year in lottery style government retirement benefits...

42 posted on 06/29/2010 8:36:46 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Ouderkirk

“Forget fixing it. END IT!!!”

I hear this a lot. Maybe those that like to think about going down this road should not sign up for it when they retire.


43 posted on 06/29/2010 8:37:15 AM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: sickoflibs; Liz
This is all Boehner can come up with given all Washington's dramatic increases in spending first under him, then Pelosi? Screwing us again(where's the trust fund? Gone!) to pay for Obama's spending? Don't worry, Congress and federal employees pensions are secured. Why don't they have to work and pay taxes till 70?

It's time for the "Tea Party" to become an official political party and dump the GOP...

44 posted on 06/29/2010 8:37:26 AM PDT by GOPJ (More people are killed every year by falling vending machines than by holders of concealed-weapons)
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To: Sub-Driver

Yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were jobs for men until they reach 70. Real nice. Wouldn’t it be real nice if men could choose to retire at 70 after many years of work. Real nice.

This liberal elitist has no idea of what it is to be in the world of work.


45 posted on 06/29/2010 8:37:36 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (liberalism: severe deterioration of the thinking apparattus)
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To: GOPJ

My husband is on disability through no fault of his own. Everyone acts like it is so easy to get disability. Believe me, it isn’t. Sure, there are some who probably shouldn’t receive it, but I believe most are truly disabled.


46 posted on 06/29/2010 8:37:45 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: Ancient Drive
you desk sitters and banker types can wait til 80 if you want....there's those of us who do demanding physical and emotionally draining work and we can not wait til 70.....

it amazes me that a politco....most of them never having worked an honest days work ever, want others who do to work til they drop dead..

working til 70 will mean you pay in for many more years and the chances of ever getting anything you paid in back are severely diminished...of course, thats' the whole charade...

47 posted on 06/29/2010 8:37:57 AM PDT by cherry
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To: Sub-Driver

So we just keep raising the age until all the those who paid in all their lives are dead before they ever see a dime back from their investment? How is that any better than watching the whole system collapse? Or is the baby boom generation just being asked to take one for the team and give up what they’ve paid for all their lives to bail out the generations before and after them? Unfortunately I think this is the case and, even worse, there is no other solution. So, I’m now supposed to trust the same people who robbed me of a significant portion of my life’s earnings with all of my medical care and decisions? That is sheer insanity.


48 posted on 06/29/2010 8:38:17 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...
Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

49 posted on 06/29/2010 8:38:44 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Ancient Drive

I don’t disagree with your point. That being said i can see a few problems that an elected rep might not see in light of the fact that mr Byrd was gainfuly employed until 92.
Will companies be willing to keep a 69 or 70 yr old on their payroll?
With no job creation what happens to high school and college grads with even fewer jobs available as older workers stay even longer in the work force?
Should pushing back the age one qualifies for SS suddenly turn the projections around will the govt decide they can spend any savings from that as they have looted the program all these years?
Finally,the biggie. Govt employees get pensions,in many cases big fat ones. They don’t rely on SS to put food in their mouths or keep a roof over their heads. Will that be adressed? Will they be forced to live like the rest of (the non unionized) society?
I personally would have no problem working longer just to make that clear.


50 posted on 06/29/2010 8:39:25 AM PDT by wiggen (Government owned slave.)
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To: Ouderkirk

of course we could just INDEX all the huge pensioners out there....that would be acceptable me, not having nor my husband fat govt pensions to rely on.....


51 posted on 06/29/2010 8:39:58 AM PDT by cherry
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To: ilovesarah2012

“How about 80? Or 90? The point is to make sure as few collect SS as possible, isn’t it?”

The point of ss was to remove a percentage of those in the work force at another time of high unemployment but provide them a small amount to aid the families taking care of them. Perhaps our society needs to return to that scope of funding for retirement.


52 posted on 06/29/2010 8:40:42 AM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Just raise it to 95 and be done with it.


53 posted on 06/29/2010 8:40:51 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Sub-Driver

This guy clearly doesn’t want to be the Speaker.


54 posted on 06/29/2010 8:40:54 AM PDT by Interesting Times (For the truth about "swift boating" see ToSetTheRecordStraight.com)
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To: Nonstatist
Lower class whites are on the bandwagon too. Look at the TV ads for lawyers who will get you disability. I believe it's automatic for the HIV virus - even though gays with HIV live as long as anyone else. And it's a shoe-in for drug addicts and people with violent tempers. Really, to make honest seniors work another five years so drug addicts don't have to steal as much is an outrage.
55 posted on 06/29/2010 8:41:11 AM PDT by GOPJ (More people are killed every year by falling vending machines than by holders of concealed-weapons)
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To: Sub-Driver

My dad and I’ve been saying this for years. However, it should be increased at a gradual rate so people can plan. Say increase retirement age 1 year every 3 to 5 years.


56 posted on 06/29/2010 8:41:16 AM PDT by Rockitz (This isn't rocket science- follow the money and you'll find truth.)
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To: dragnet2

Yeah, me and all of the rest of Americans who have had tens of thousands of dollars stolen from them over the years. Especially those of us who are self imployed and pay both parts, employee contribution and employer contribution.

We could have invested that money into something real.

Rot in Hell, Boehner!


57 posted on 06/29/2010 8:41:20 AM PDT by Frenchtown Dan
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged

Boehner just handed the Democrats victory in November.


58 posted on 06/29/2010 8:41:26 AM PDT by hoosierham (Waddaya mean Freedom isn't free ?;will you take a credit card?)
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To: kabar

“Boehner failed to mention privitization, which is the real solution.”

That idea is dead for at least two generations.


59 posted on 06/29/2010 8:42:02 AM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Pay into it all your life and get nothing back. What a deal.


60 posted on 06/29/2010 8:42:42 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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