U.S. senator comes to Youngstown to tout Social Security bill

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said he is supporting a bill to increase benefits for seniors and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund.

“Seniors have spent a lifetime paying into Social Security, but as the cost of living continues to rise, the budgets of many are stretched to the breaking point,” said Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, during a Monday visit to the Senior Independence Senior Center of Mahoning County on Fifth Avenue in Youngstown.

“That is why Congress needs to do more to ensure that our seniors receive the benefits they’ve earned so that they can continue to retire with dignity,” he said. “The Strengthening Social Security Act of 2013 would do this by expanding benefits, strengthening the program’s future, and making retirement more secure for all Americans.”

The proposal strengthens benefits by reforming the Social Security benefit formula, ensures that cost of living adjustments adequately reflect the living expenses of retirees, and improve the long-term financial condition of the trust fund, he said.