The Democratic Party is vowing to expand Social Security benefits and will fight any attempt by Congressional Republicans or “Wall Street” to roll back the U.S. Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, according to a draft copy of the 2016 Democratic Party Platform.

The platform draft was crafted by a 15-member committee, and will be finalized by the end of the week by the full platform committee, which is convening in Orlando, Florida on July 8th and 9th. From there, it will be presented for ratification at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia beginning July 25th.

“We will fight every effort to cut, privatize, or weaken Social Security, including attempts to raise the retirement age or diminish benefits by cutting cost-of-living adjustments,” says the draft proposal. A senior policy advisor from both former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns advised the drafting committee.

Recently, prominent Democratic lawmakers have articulated policy intentions to expand Social Security benefits. At a Senate roundtable on advancing legislation to broaden access to open multiple employer defined contribution plans to more small businesses, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., committed much of her opening statement to expanding Social Security.

And at a retirement policy forum hosted by the Aspen Institute on Capitol Hill, Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-New York, announced he would introduce legislation to mandate 401(k) participation for businesses with 10 or more employees. Along with mandated 401(k) participation, Crowley also suggested the time was right for expanding Social Security benefits.

The Democratic Party's draft platform proposal committed one paragraph to Social Security reform. Beyond pledging to fight efforts to raise the eligibility age, the proposal said Democrats will address the Social Security's solvency “by taxing some of the income of people above $250,000.”

According to a statement from the drafting committee, that language was added to the proposed draft pursuant to an amendment advanced by two of the 15 draft committee members, Bill McKibben, an author and environmentalist, and Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, an influential Washington, D.C.-based progressive think tank.

The draft proposal says the Democratic Party will provide “all necessary financial support” for providing timely Social Security benefits.

Solvency issue

“Our plan contrasts starkly with Donald Trump,” the platform proposal says. “He has referred to Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme' and has called for privatizing it as well as increasing the retirement age,” adds the platform proposal.

Last month, the Social Security Administration's 2016 Trustees Report projected that the program's reserves will be depleted by 2034, triggering automatic benefit cuts of about 21 percent.

Calls to address the program's solvency issue by, in part, phasing in increases to the eligibility age have been commonplace among Republican lawmakers.

The Social Security Advisory Board has been recommending phased increases to eligibility ages since at least 2010. The board's recommendations would affect taxpayers that reach age 62 in the year 2024.

In its analysis of those proposals, the Social Security Administration has said that phased increases in eligibility age would improve the program's solvency outlook, but would ultimately reduce benefits for some beneficiaries.

The Social Security Administration does not advocate for specific policy solutions, but did say in its latest Trustees' report that “lawmakers have a broad continuum of policy options that would close or reduce Social Security's long-term financing shortfall.”

A 2015 study by the Government Accountability Office noted that raising the full-retirement age above 67, where it is now for those born in 1960 or after, would incentivize the country to work longer and delay healthy Americans from claiming Social Security.

But such an increase would also likely increase claims to Social Security's Disability Insurance program, as more workers in physically demanding blue color jobs would be forced to claim disability, according to the GAO.

Retirement security

The Democratic Party's proposed platform includes a section on retirement security that says the party will “fight against any attempt by Republicans in Congress or on Wall Street to roll back the conflict of interest rule, which requires that retirement advisors put the best interests of clients above their own financial gain.”

The proposed platform also says the party will “fight” to protect pension benefits in distressed multiemployer pension plans.

Instant Insights /

Democratic party shifting left on Social Security reform

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