New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants to revamp Social Security and other entitlement programs, a risky, unusually bold political move as he struggles to gain traction in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Christie, a potential Republican presidential candidate, has stumbled in recent weeks. He’s in New Hampshire Tuesday, hoping to stir interest in a plan would would phase out Social Security payments for people earning more than $80,000 elsewhere. For those making more than $200,000 annually, the payments would end.
He told the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm Collee he wants to raise the retirement ages for Social Security and Medicare, and end the payroll tax for seniors who keep working past age 62.
Under the Christie plan, the Social Security retirement age would jump to 69 and Medicare to 67, according to WMUR-TV in Manchester. The Social Security age is now on a sliding scale, depending on the year of one’s birth, and will hit 67 for those born in 1960 or after. The Medicare eligibility age is 65.
Christie’s aim to make significant reductions in the federal deficit. While experts have said for years that curbing programs such as Social Security and Medicare are crucial, political officials have been reluctant to make changes to them.
“I’m suggesting that Americans pay into this system throughout the course of their life knowing that it will be there if they need it to support them. So that seniors will not grow old in back-breaking poverty. But if you are fortunate enough not to need it, you will have paid into a system that will continue to help Americans who need it most," Christie said, according to an Associated Press report from New Hampshire.
“That is what we have always done for each other through private charity and good government."
Reaction was swift from some retiree groups. “Governor Chris Christie today went after not only seniors’ earned Social Security benefits, but also their health coverage, in an attempt to further his own presidential ambitions,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
Comments