Great Falls Tribune: Local veterans take a stand for Social Security
Several Great Falls veterans proclaimed their support Wednesday for retaining a strong Social Security program and avoiding any cuts to it.
“Social Security is not a handout,” Sam Pappas, chairman of the Montana Veterans Memorial, said during a press conference beneath the statue at the memorial. “Most of us have paid into it a little at a time, paycheck by paycheck, for decades. It is a promise of modest security in our old age.
“Nobody is living large off Social Security,” he added.
Pappas said Montana is home to more than 102,000 veterans, ranking Montana near the top in per capita military participation.
A coalition of veteran and pro-Social Security groups recently published a 30-page report showing that Social Security benefits, including life insurance and disability, are vitally important to veterans.
Veterans and their families make up 35 percent of the adult Social Security beneficiary population.
