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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Social Security "Facts"

Last week in an address to the Hoover Institution Rep. Eric Cantor said, "We're going to have to come to grips with the fact that these programs (Social Security and Medicare) cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be."

WASHINGTON

Last week in an address to the Hoover Institution Rep. Eric Cantor said, "We're going to have to come to grips with the fact that these programs (Social Security and Medicare) cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be."

NANCY ALTMAN
Altman is co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 215 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans. She said today: "People who should know better have claimed that Social Security's Trust Funds are not 'real,' and that the assets they contain are mere 'IOUs.' These claims are not only wrong, but a serious disservice to American workers who contribute a portion of their hard-earned wages every pay day to these funds. As our elected officials continue to talk about their plans to reform Social Security, it is crucial that the public discourse is accurate. As the late Senator Moynihan once remarked, 'We are entitled to our own opionions, but not to our own set of facts.'"

A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.