Tester builds on record of strengthening Social Security

Farmer renews commitment to protect initiative from privatization

BILLINGS, Mont. – On the eve of Social Security’s 77^th anniversary, Montana farmer Jon Tester is renewing his commitment to strengthening and protecting the initiative from privatization.

Tester has consistently opposed repeated efforts to privatize Social Security, which one out of five Montanans rely on.

“Montana seniors work hard and spend years paying for their Social Security benefits,” Tester said. “The last thing we should be considering is forfeiting those hard-earned benefits to out-of-state corporations looking to pad their pockets. As we cut spending and cut our deficit, we have a responsibility to protect Social Security and its benefits for this generation and for our kids and our grandkids.”

As a U.S. Senator, Tester has always supported and strengthened Social Security:

Tester opposes “any reduction in benefits and believes a ‘critical mass’ in Congress would as well. ‘We do have to get the budget deficit dead under control,’ Tester said. ‘But we don’t have to reduce your benefits to make that happen.’” [AP, 10/19/11]
Tester fought for deficit-reduction plans that explicitly protect Social Security [Senate Roll Call Vote 4, 1/26/10; CQ; Vote 228, 12/14/11].
Tester has supported measures that would help the Social Security Administration crack down on fraud and eliminate application backlogs [CQ Committee Coverage; Senate Committee on Appropriations, Press Release, 6/14/12].
Tester fought to overturn a decision to close Social Security’s appeal site in Great Falls, which would have made it harder for Montanans to get access to critical services, and he continued to fight the closure until the decision was made to reopen the site [Great Falls Tribune, 6/16/2011; KRTV, 5/17/12]
Tester pledged not to privatize Social Security [Great Falls Tribune, 10/7/06].

More on Tester’s history of protecting and strengthening Social Security is available online HERE.

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