2226 Rayburn House Office Building 45 Independence Ave. SW Washington, DC 20515
Mar 24, 2011
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM (GMT-5)
The Preserving Our Promise to Seniors Act would strengthen Social Security for the next 75 years while improving benefits by fixing the outdated COLA formula. This is achieved by gradually phasing out the payroll tax exemption on incomes over $106,800 and keeping Social Security’s tradition of increased benefits for increased contributions. Additionally, this bill would improve the current COLA formula by indexing it to seniors’ costs through the creation of a Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. Finally, the legislation provides a supplemental payment to all COLA-tied retirees when there is no COLA for seniors. The Economic Policy Institute and ProgressiveCongress.org held a panel discussion to discuss the act. Participants included Congressman Ted Deutch; Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners; Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research; Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute; and Eric Kingson, co-director of Social Security Works and The Strengthen Social Security Campaign.