SCHAKOWSKY ENCOURAGES CONSTITUENTS TO USE ONLINE CALCULATOR TO DETERMINE THEIR SOCIAL SECURITYBENEFITS UNDER BUSH PROPOSAL

MARCH 10, 2005

SCHAKOWSKY ENCOURAGES CONSTITUENTS TO USE ONLINE CALCULATOR TO DETERMINE
THEIR SOCIAL SECURITYBENEFITS UNDER BUSH PROPOSAL

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today continued her efforts to provide her constituents with facts about President Bush's proposed Social Security privatization plan.

Schakowsky unveiled an online calculator on her webpage that visitors can use to determine their Social Security benefits under privatization. For example, a worker who is born in 1985 and who earns an annual average salary of $50,000 would receive $28,260 in annual Social Security retirement benefits under current law. Under the President's privatization scheme, the same individual would get $18,199 annually, a cut of more than $10,000 each year. That figure is a combination of Social Security benefits and private accounts.

"Arming the American people with the facts about President Bush's Social Security privatization scheme is our best weapon to defend against Republican plans to destroy it. It is going to take more than a PR campaign by President Bush to convince the American people that cutting their Social Security benefits and saddling them with more than $5 trillion in debt over the next 20 years in the right public policy," Schakowsky said.

She continued, "Voters are rejecting President Bush's vision for Social Security today and they will continue to reject it tomorrow. The American people understand that Social Security faces some long-term challenges. But they also understand that Democrats and Republicans must work together to find the right solution to strengthen, not privatize, Social Security."

Democrats, including Schakowsky, are working to counter President Bush's taxpayer-funded nationwide PR tour designed to bolster support for private accounts in Social Security and have held town hall meeting in their Congressional Districts. In Chicago, Schakowsky organized a town hall that was attended by 700 people who expressed great concern about the President's plan to privatize Social Security. U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama joined Schakowsky at the town hall meeting.