BROOKLINE – Congressional candidate Joe Kennedy III stopped by Center Communities of Brookline today, an independent living facility for senior citizens. He spoke with residents there about the issues most important to them and other seniors around the 4th District and reaffirmed his commitment to strengthen and safeguard Medicare and Social Security.
“Medicare and Social Security are two of the most successful programs in the history of this country,” said Joe. “My opponent wants to turn Medicare into a voucher program – drastically reducing benefits for seniors – and privatize Social Security: two ideas I think are wrong for the 4th District and for our country. We need to do everything we can to ensure our seniors get the retirement benefits they have earned and deserve.”
“We’re glad Joe took the time to speak with our residents today about the issues of most importance to them,” said Dorothy Kelly Gay, Vice President for Government Relations and Director of Senior Supportive Housing at Hebrew SeniorLife. “His visit gave these seniors an opportunity to hear his positions firsthand and pose questions about his plans for the 4th District.”
Joe believes that we must do everything possible to preserve the social safety nets that have allowed past generations to succeed. He will fight against Republican-led efforts to turn Medicare into a voucher program, which would drastically increase out-of-pocket health care costs for seniors. He believes the best way to keep Medicare solvent is to address the increasing costs of health care across the board.
He will also stand up to those trying to privatize Social Security and put seniors’ retirement benefits at the whim of the stock market – a proposal supported by his Republican opponent. He does not believe we need to raise the retirement age and is opposed to means-testing benefits. He supports shoring up Social Security by getting people back to work, so that more people are paying into the system, and by raising the payroll tax cap.
Joe Kennedy is the Democratic nominee in the 4th Congressional District of Massachusetts. In September, Joe won the Democratic primary with over 90 percent of the vote. He has held over 200 events across the 4th District, speaking directly with voters in every city and town. Out on the trail, he has stressed the importance of creating jobs, investing in education, getting our national debt under control, and bringing basic fairness back into our system. The campaign has opened five offices across the district, signed up over 3,600 volunteers, knocked on over 44,000 doors and made more than 200,000 phone calls.
Joe has also earned the endorsements of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, the Bay State Stonewall Democrats, the SEIU state council and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
