#TakeAStand on the Future of Social Security

on in Economy

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The future of Social Security will disproportionately impact Latino retirees. This is because 60% of Latinos work for an employer that does not offer a retirement plan. Moreover, Latinos who have access to a plan at work do not participate at the same levels as their non-Latino counterparts. As a result, 52% of Latino retirees draw 90% of their income from Social Security.

On October 14, NCLR joined hundreds of Social Security advocates in front of the Fox News office to deliver a message to the final presidential debate moderator, Chris Wallace. The request of Chris Wallace was that he ask a question on Social Security at the October 19 debate, a topic that hadn’t been addressed in the first two debates. The team unfurled banners that said “Give U.S. A Plan for Social Security” and held signs with “Take A Stand” written on them, while two people representing the AARP carried boxes holding 1.4 million signatures supporting a conversation about Social Security at the debate and delivered them to the office building.

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Five days later, on the day of the debate, NCLR’s California Affiliates and the AARP gathered together to see what priorities would make the debate agenda and live tweet their reactions during the debate. “We were anxious to hear details about plans for immigration and the economy, as well as Social Security,” said Marisabel Torres, Senior Policy Analyst at NCLR, who was in attendance.

During the first hour of the debate, the moderator asked questions on topics ranging from the Supreme Court to immigration and the economy. However, there were no mentions of Social Security. Affiliates took the opportunity to live tweet at Chris Wallace, pushing him to discuss this critical retirement program that affects millions of Americans.

Finally, toward the end of the debate, the candidates responded to a prompt about Social Security. To everyone’s dismay, however, Social Security was framed as an entitlement program and neither candidate provided specific details about their plans for maintaining and improving the program.

Election Day is less than two weeks away, yet the candidates have offered little details about their plans for Social Security, a program that 170 million Americans pay into and expect to benefit from. Now is the moment we can make our voices heard on this issue. Let the candidates know that we deserve concrete answers about the future of Social Security and we are waiting for them to take a stand for retiring Americans.

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