John Kasich  (R)

Governor of Ohio

“We’ve got to fix Social Security, I mean it’s not that hard. Do you know how you fix Social Security? This gentleman here is a small businessman, and probably had a pretty good life, made a decent income, right? So if you made a pretty good income throughout your lifetime, when it comes time to retire you’re not going to get as much Social Security as you thought you were going to get. You’ll still get it, but not as much as you thought. So the lady that’s over here or the guy that’s over here working in the hotel and doesn’t have a lot of income, they’re going to get what they need, done, fixed. You don’t have to raise the retirement age, just say if you got money you don’t get it as much, and if you need it you’ll get it. Okay, do you like that Social Security people? You’ve got to do it in both parties. None of these things that we need to do are that difficult, it is politics that gets in the way.” – Watertown, NY, 4/15/2016

“Social Security’s fiscal health is deteriorating rapidly and it will soon be unable to meet its obligations to retirees. John Kasich’s balanced budget framework does not include changes to Social Security or its benefits to achieve balance, nor does it include the costs of filling Social Security’s deficits. As President he will lead a bipartisan effort to assemble the best ideas from the various reform plans that have been proposed to preserve its solvency. Most important, he will draw upon his experience as a reformer to bring people together and lead them to have the courage we need to save this important program for America’s seniors.” – JohnKasich.com

“…I’ll tell you that there are about 4 things we need to think about. We need to deal with the issue of early retirement. We need to look at the issue of raising the retirement age. We do need to have a indices of prices and not both prices and wages. Those things will get us in a pretty good place, and we have to think about a disconnect of what we pay in and what we get out. But Social Security is so sensitive it has to be stabilized, and I’ve got to let you in on something. We’re going to have to include some Democrats in this who understand this program needs to be fixed. We’ll have more to say about that which is a separate issue from getting us to balance this federal budget today ok?” – CSPAN, Nashua, NH, 10/15/15

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