Bernie Sanders Advocates For Bill To Increase Solvency Of Social Security By Removing Income Caps

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6 months ago

At a Senate Health Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about pension plans.

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00:00Mr. Coleman, you talked about the burden of health care costs on small business.

00:07Absolutely right. Ms. Gavin, you told us that health care in America is expensive.

00:11Yeah. In fact, it is double what it is in most other countries around the world.

00:16So I would ask our panelists very briefly, yes or no, do you think it makes sense for

00:22the United States to join every other major country on earth, guarantee health care to

00:27all people as a human right? Ms. Occombe. Ms. Onwuka, you mean, sir? Not the way you're suggesting,

00:36no. Okay, thank you. Ms. Coleman. I agree, not the way you're suggesting.

00:40Mr. Coleman. I don't think the question really understands the philosophy of human rights versus

00:46localized market. Despite the fact that every major country on earth guarantees health care to all

00:50people. Yes. Mr. Driscoll. Health care is absolutely an essential right everyone's entitled to.

00:55Ms. Freedman. Mr. Driscoll, you state in your testimony that the misclassification of workers

01:03as independent contractors is rampant in the construction industry and has led to a destructive

01:08race to the bottom. Please tell us how this has harmed construction workers and why you believe

01:14Congress should not make it easier for corporations to misclassify workers as independent contractors.

01:19Yeah. Currently, under existing law, Senator Sanders, approximately 2.1 million workers are

01:26misclassified as contractors. So within my trade, a bricklayer working next to another bricklayer,

01:33working on a project that they have no control over, are often deemed contractors to avoid paying

01:40unemployment insurance, health insurance. That cost is ultimately borne by the community that those

01:45workers participate in because they cannot afford health care. And it drives a race to the bottom

01:50where our employers, responsible contractors who provide health care and pension benefits,

01:55can't compete against these low-road contractors. This law, if enacted under its current language,

02:01would simplify that test and lead to an expansion of those type of contractor relationships.

02:06Uh, President Driscoll, the bills we are discussing today would give companies a, quote-unquote,

02:12safe harbor that would allow them to deny workers a minimum wage, overtime, and the right to form a

02:20union. In your opinion, would these, quote-unquote, safe harbors help or harm workers? These would greatly

02:27harm workers, Senator. Uh, Ms. Friedman, uh, astoundingly, again, we are the wealthiest country in the history of

02:36the world. And yet, nearly half of older workers have no retirement savings. Uh, I've introduced legislation

02:44today that would bring back defined benefit pension plans for over 56 million American workers. What,

02:51Ms. Friedman, what would it mean if every American had access to a defined benefit pension like the one

02:57members of Congress have? Senator, great question. Um, as I said in my statement and my, in my written

03:05statement, defined benefit plans, which are guaranteed plans that provide lifetime payments to individuals,

03:15have created a middle class in this country. If everybody had a defined benefit plan, then they'd be

03:21able to pay their bills. They'd be able to take care of themselves and not be a burden on society.

03:28They'd be able to, uh, participate in community. I'm going to interrupt you here. Yeah, sure.

03:35It's, isn't it fair to say, and I trust that nobody disagrees with this, that if you are 60, 65,

03:43you're about to retire and you got nothing in the bank, which is the case for millions and millions of

03:47people, there is a tremendous level of anxiety. How do I survive? Yeah, totally. And one of the

03:52astounding facts we don't talk about, I've learned about it, Mr. Chairman, just last year when I was

03:57sitting where you are, 22% of seniors in America are trying to get, survive on $15,000 a year, right?

04:04That's insane. All right. So, uh, what we are striving for here, and you tell me, uh, Ms. Friedman,

04:12is a defined pension plan so that when people retire, they know what they're going to get.

04:18Also, let me talk about social security. The chairman correctly mentioned we have a problem

04:22with social security. Right now, why don't you tell people if somebody is making $10 million a year,

04:28and somebody's making $160,000, $176,000, who pays more into the social security trust fund?

04:35Well, if, if somebody, so, the lower income person pays much, much more.

04:45A higher percentage, because we have a cap. Right.

04:48And what would happen if we lifted that cap to, for all taxable income,

04:56the legislation that I have introduced would greatly expand benefits and increase the solvency,

05:02the issue Senator Cassidy talked about, for 75 years. Does that make sense to you?

05:05Yes, it certainly makes sense to me. And the Pension Rights Center is, is, um, also thinks that it's a

05:12great idea. Um, you know, Senator, if I may just add, social security is this country's nearly universal,

05:20uh, pension plan. And it's completely portable. It's extremely efficient. Um, it's spending less than

05:27a penny on administration of every dollar spent and returning more than 90 cents, 99 cents of every

05:34dollar in benefits. Um, and these benefits have not been, uh, thank you, increased. So, yeah, so it's a,

05:40it's a great, it's a great thing. Yeah. Senator Tuttleville.

Bernie Sanders Advocates For Bill To Increase Solvency Of Social Security By Removing Income Caps

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