It’s Fair to Say Senate Candidate Ken Buck Will Not Be Celebrating
August 13th, 2010
On the Eve of the 75th Anniversary of Social Security, It’s Fair to Say Senate Candidate Ken Buck Will Not Be Celebrating
FLASHBACK: Buck Derided Cherished Safety Net That Has Lifted Millions of Seniors From Poverty as “horrible, bad policy," “fundamentally against what I believe”
WashingtonDC– On the eve of the 75th anniversary that the Social Security Act was signed into law, Americans United for Change spotlighted the extreme and outrageous views of Colorado U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck on the cherished social safety net that has been credited with lifting millions of seniors, survivors and disabled Americans out of poverty.
From The Politico: “At a March forum, [Ken Buck] drew hearty applause after calling Social Security “horrible, bad policy” and questioning whether the federal government should be involved in administering it. “I don’t know whether it’s constitutional or not; it is certainly a horrible policy,” Buck said. “The idea that the federal government should be running health care or retirement or any of those programs is fundamentally against what I believe. And that is that the private sector runs programs like that far better.”
“Many Republican members and would-be members of Congress across the country become very guarded and coy when asked about their support for renewed Bush-era schemes to privatize Social Security – but not Ken Buck. Ken Buck is someone that wears his contempt for Social Security’s very existence on his sleeve,” said Tom McMahon, Executive Director, Americans United for Change, the group formerly known as Americans United to Protect Social Security that led the successful national campaign to defeat the President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security in 2005.
“While Buck’s unapologetic views on the cherished safety net that has kept seniors, survivors and disabled Americans out of poverty for 75 years are obviously outrageous, extreme and wildly out-of-touch, it’s refreshing -- in a way -- that he is willing to say out loud what many Republican lawmakers in Washington believe.”