Press Releases

Last Week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Called New “Trump Accounts” a “Backdoor for Privatizing Social Security."

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Congressman Tim Kennedy (NY-26) was joined by colleagues in government, community leaders, and Social Security recipients to oppose recent comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called the creation of Trump Accounts in the Republican Reconciliation Bill a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.” With more than 194,000 Social Security recipients in Kennedy’s district alone receiving over $331 million per year, Social Security is a lifeline for families and seniors, keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table. Privatizing Social Security would, in essence, turn over the financial well-being of seniors and future generations to the ups and downs of Wall Street, playing roulette with the retirement of hardworking Americans who were promised a steady, dependable income in their golden years.

“Social Security is not a slush fund for Donald Trump to juice the stock markets with, it is not a fund to gamble on the future with, and it is not up for debate,” said Congressman Kennedy. “Social Security is the bedrock of the middle class - it provides a dependable source of income for our seniors in their retirement, for individuals with disabilities, for widowers and children who have lost a parent. In short, it is the best of America. Alleged billionaires like Donald Trump have only one goal: to boost their portfolios and squeeze more wealth from the middle class. As the representative for nearly 200,000 Social Security recipients, let me be clear: not on my watch.”

“I spent 35 years working in probation and now that I’m retired, Social Security is something I rely on,” said Bernadette Giambra, CSEA President, Retirees Local 912. “I earned it through my years of service, and it helps me cover necessities. Without it, I would still be working full time and picking up additional jobs just to make ends meet. Social Security isn’t a luxury; it’s something I earned through decades of hard work. The idea of privatizing it is deeply concerning. We cannot allow the future of retirees to be gambled away.”

“Social Security is the most successful anti-poverty program in human history,” said Cheektowaga Supervisor Brian Nowak. “Rather than privatizing the program, we should lift the tax cap on income and make the program more solvent that way. It took 25 years for the S&P 500 to recover from the 1929 stock market crash. We can’t afford to put everyone’s retirement in a market that has had wild crashes in 1987, 2000, and 2008. Privatization and excessive reliance on the stock market to fund retirement for millions of Americans is a short-sighted act of financial recklessness. We already have the privatized retirement accounts in the form of IRA’s. Reform those and properly fund Social Security through lifting the tax cap on income.”

“Many of us who started part-time jobs as teenagers wondered why part of the money we earned was cut from our check and going to Social Security,” said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes. “But we learned that the money we put in on the front end would take care of us at the back end of our lives. So it is distressing to hear talk of privatizing Social Security, coming from the Treasury Secretary. This kind of talk is dangerous. This is money we have paid into for our entire working lives. It’s our money, plain and simple. The system works as is. I applaud Congressman Kennedy, the retired members of CSEA and others who are highlighting this issue.”

"This administration's agenda continues to threaten the basic and long-term well-being of everyday Americans,” said Assemblyman Bill Conrad. “The privatization of Social Security, the very cornerstone of our country's public safety net, is a disastrous notion, posing an intolerable level of risk to people's retirement incomes, at a time when vulnerable seniors are more dependent than ever on benefits that are reliable and predictable. Economic security for aging citizens is not something to toy with, and I thank Congressman Kennedy for his consistent push-back, on everyone's behalf, against these cruel policy ideas."

Assemblymember Jon D. Rivera said, “Floating the absurd idea of privatizing Social Security is just business as usual for the GOP: They’re once again gambling with the livelihoods of hardworking American families. This isn’t just reckless policy, it’s a direct threat to the retirement security of millions who’ve spent their lives paying into a system they were promised would be there for them when they needed it. Make no mistake, this is yet another clear warning that Republicans cannot be trusted to protect the programs working people rely on. We must stand firm in defending Social Security from these extreme, irresponsible attacks.”

“Social Security is a promise, not a gamble,” said Erie County Legislator Taisha St. Jean-Tard. “Trump’s backdoor plan to privatize it hands over our seniors’ earned benefits to risky schemes,  and I won’t stand for it.”

Trump and Congressional Republicans recently passed their reconciliation bill that slashed hundreds of billions of dollars from healthcare and nutritional assistance. The bill also included Trump Accounts, tax-advantaged savings accounts that will be provided to each child born between 2025 and 2028, with an initial federal contribution of $1000 and the option for families to contribute up to $5000 annually. With many Americans already living paycheck to paycheck and therefore unable to contribute, these new accounts will largely be unhelpful to the lowest-income Americans.

Since its introduction by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935, Social Security has provided a financial safety net for the elderly, forming the cornerstone of retirement security for tens of millions of Americans. Along with traditional defined pensions, Social Security is one of the only sources of guaranteed retirement income for most Americans. 

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