The following update will tell you about Social Security summits being planned as well as training sessions and materials that are available regarding Social Security nd Medicare. Soon we will be sending further information on organizing around child care funding and pay equity.
The session is entitled "Protecting and Strengthening Social Security for Women - Campaign 2000: From the Capitol Steps to America’s Front Porch." Presentations on the politics and policy options for Social Security will be made by leaders of various national women’s organizations, including Dr. Heidi Hartmann, President of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Reports, training and media materials will be available.
Preserving and strengthening Social Security is an important issue in the current election campaigns; all Republican candidates remaining in the race have vowed to "privatize" the system. This training is designed to give you powerful arguments on why Social Security should be protected and how the system could be improved to benefit women. It will also assist you in talking to the press, "staying on message" and working with other progressive groups to promote women’s Social Security interests.
Other groups who are organizing the training include the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and The Women’s Institute for Secure Retirement (WISER). Please RSVP to Lisa Witter, Director of the Women and Social Security Campaign at (202) 785-5100 or by email at lisa@women4socialsecurity.org or Catherine Hill, Study Director, IWPR, by email hill@iwpr.org. For updated information on Social Security, check out a new website at www.women4socialsecurity.org
We hope that many of you can attend. For others who want to work on Social Security in their communities, there are other organizing efforts to conduct town hall meetings and candidate forums around the various primary elections. Already many of these events have been held. In New Hampshire prior to the primary there, New Hampshire NOW was very instrumental in holding a press conference with other groups where a new IWPR report was released, noting the negative impact that the Cato Institute’s privatization plan would have on women retirees.
Other cities where Women’s Summits on Social Security are being planned for March through May by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Older Women’s League (OWL) include Montgomery, AL; Newark and Dover, DE; Twin Cities, MN; St Louis and four other MO towns; Albany, NY; Euclid, OH; Sarasota and Venice, FL: Eugene, Salem and Beaverton, OR; Salt Lake City; UT; Bothell, WA; and De Pere, WI. Later in the year – right on up to the elections – Social Security summits will be held in Kalispell, MT; Providence, RI; Piedmont, Spartanburg, Rock Hill and Newbury, SC, and Dallas, TX. NOW activists may want to join in with plans already underway or make contact with other organizations in their areas to interest them in co-sponsoring events.
On Friday, Feb. 25th, Patricia Ireland told a National Press Club gathering that privatization proposals are like a shell game. "Here’s how it works: Conservatives abolish the current Social Security program and hire non-government firms to do the job. In the end, the companies that take over the program would get to line their pockets with our tax dollars while politicians get to claim they reduced government. Like more shell games, privatization is a scam. And women will likely suffer the greatest losses, if implemented."
Ireland noted that "privatization of Social Security would be risky and expensive. Administrative costs of Social Security are just 1% of benefits, compared to 12 to 14% for private insurers. Most of the proposals offered would create private accounts by diverting Social Security taxes while cutting benefits and raising the retirement ago to make up for lost revenues."
The politicians who would privatize have recently toned down their rhetoric about the supposed benefits; few of the Republican presidential candidates even raise the issue anymore. Why? Because their polling shows that privatization is not a popular idea with the public – and especially, not popular with women. They now say that they are in favor of "strengthening Social Security." In fact, as noted earlier, all the major Republican candidates have vowed to privatize (with the exception of Gary Bauer who opposed privatization, but has now withdrawn from the race). The two major democratic contenders, Vice president Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley are opposed to privatization.
It’s important that activists get all candidates – state legislature, Congressional and presidential –on record concerning Social Security and to not let them obfuscate on the issue. A good way to do this is to ask them to sign a pledge which clearly states their opposition to privatization. Utilizing a model developed by the Social Security/Medicare Project of the Campaign for America’s Future, NOW will make available forms for activists to distribute in their communities. If you would like a copy of the pledge, please email a request to: govtrel@now.org or call NOW Government Relations intern Branden Golden at (202) 628-8669, ext. 101.
Several new reports and organizing materials will be available at the next National NOW Board meeting or you can contact the NOW Government Relations Intern, Branden Golden and request a packet after March 10th. Call (202) 628-8669, ext. 161 or send a request a email, noting your ‘snail mail’ address.