Ames, IA - U.S. Senator Tom Harkin today rallied students at the Iowa State University to vote early on campus. In addition to highlighting the importance of voting early, Senator Harkin pointed to Bruce Braley's proven record of supporting higher education and Iowa's students.

"Voting early on campus is the easiest way for Iowa students to make their voice heard in this election," said Senator Harkin. "Bruce Braley is the clear choice for Iowa's students because he will work to expand opportunity for more Iowans to achieve a quality, affordable education. The opponent's ideas of abolishing the Department of Education and jeopardizing funding for education, is bad for Iowa's students and is bad for Iowa's middle class."

Iowa State University Students can vote early on campus, Monday-Friday from 9AM to 4PM at the Memorial Union Building. Additionally, students can vote early this Wednesday from 9:30AM to 3:30PM in Carver Hall and this Thursday from 9:30AM to 3:30PM at the Parks Library.

In Iowa:

• 111,000 students receive Pell Grants.
• 228,000 federal loans have been distributed to Iowa students.
• Iowa State University:
• 6,271 students received Pell Grants to attend Iowa State University
• ISU graduates with student loan debt owed on average $24,300 in federal obligations

Iowans across the state can vote early in person from now until November 3, and can find their early voting location at vote.BruceBraley.com.

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Des Moines, IA - As Bruce Braley travels across the state to talk about his plans to strengthen Social Security and increase benefits for seniors, Joni Ernst is desperately trying to hide the fact that she supports privatizing this critical program and reducing benefits for Iowa seniors.

Today, Bruce will be in Cedar Rapids talking to seniors about Social Security while Joni Ernst is campaigning with Outsourcer-in-Chief Mitt Romney.

This latest push comes as Iowa voters are increasingly focusing on the campaign, and the more they learn about Joni Ernst's plans that would hurt Iowa families, the more they support Bruce Braley and his plans to fight for all Iowa families, not just the wealthiest few.

Watch Joni talk about her plans to privatize Social Security: http://youtu.be/dMYYFKAJEI0

Joni Ernst may try to hide her positions, but here are the facts:

FACT: ERNST SUPPORTED PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY

Ernst Said She Has "Talked About Privatizing Social Security As An Option."Ernst said: "First, yes, I have talked about privatizing social security as an option. Again, that is one solution. So what I'd recommend is we look at a number of solutions because we really don't know which way is the best way to go yet." [Des Moines Senior Roundtable, 9/03/14] (video & audio)

Ernst Said That Privatizing Social Security Is "An Option" And "One Solution." Ernst said: "First, yes, I have talked about privatizing social security - as an option. Again, that is one solution. So what I'd recommend is we look at a number of solutions because we really don't know which way is the best way to go yet." [Des Moines Senior Roundtable, 9/03/14] (video & audio)

Ernst Said She Supports "Personal Savings" Accounts For Young People In Place Of Entitlements, Said It Could Be Either "Interest Bearing Or Its Tied To The Market." "Ernst supports a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and reductions to entitlement as well as discretionary spending. 'We need to look at younger workers, workers that are entering the workforce and we need to find a solution there. Something I am willing to look at is a personal savings account. It would be one that, whether it's interest bearing or it's tied to the market, I would need to look at the details, but that is something we need to consider." [Des Moines Register, 5/9/14]

FACT: PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY COULD ENDANGER CURRENT BENEFICIARIES

Expert: Privatization Poses Risks to Current Beneficiaries As Well. Said Kenneth Apfel, a former Social Security Commissioner, "The Bush Social Security plan poses a major threat to the economic security of future generations of older Americans. And it also poses major risks for current beneficiaries. At its heart, the proposal destabilizes the financing base of Social Security, which could over time threaten benefit commitments to current beneficiaries -- maybe not in 2005, but very possibly within a decade. To "save" Social Security, we don't need to weaken Social Security's financing base -- we need to strengthen it." [Campaign for America's Future, 10/21/04]

FACT: PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY WOULD CUT BENEFITS

Privatization of Social Security Increases Risks, Would Cut Benefits, Increases the Debt. According to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, "privatization is not a plan to save Social Security; it is a plan to dismantle Social Security. Privatization means increased retirement risks, severe cuts in Social Security benefits, and a multi-trillion dollar increase in the federal debt. "Privatization diverts money out of Social Security into individual accounts leaving an even larger solvency problem. Privatizers fill this funding gap by dramatically cutting Social Security benefits. They cover the rest by borrowing money, thereby increasing the debt burden on all taxpayers by trillions of dollars over the next half century. With market-based accounts, the risk of an adequate retirement is placed entirely on the individual." [National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare website]

CBPP: Seven in Ten Workers Would See Benefit Cuts from Privatization Proposal. In a 2005 report, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated that seven of ten workers would have their benefits cut. They wrote, "All workers with income above $20,000 today would be subject to benefit reductions. Seven of every ten workers would be affected." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/29/05]

FACT: ERNST'S PLAN TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY WOULD BE A WINDFALL FOR WALL STREET

Privatization Would Risk Retirement in the Market, While Creating Billion in Windfalls for Wall Street. According to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, "Privatization will replace Social Security's guaranteed defined benefits with individual investment accounts. In other words, privatization would take money out of Social Security and have workers invest instead in Wall Street." According to MSNBC, even plans to partially privatize "Social Security could be a windfall for Wall Street, generating billions of dollars in management fees for brokerages and mutual fund companies." [National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare website; MSNBC, 12/28/04]

Privatization a "Windfall for Wall Street," Worth Billions of Dollars. According to MSNBC, even plans to partially privatize "Social Security could be a windfall for Wall Street, generating billions of dollars in management fees for brokerages and mutual fund companies... because of the massive size of Social Security, with its 154 million covered employees, Mills estimated that even a simple program of individual accounts comparable to the TSP might generate $39 billion in fees, in present-value terms, over 75 years... a more complex menu of options, which might be offered to participants whose accounts grow beyond, say, $5,000, might generate $279 billion in fees over 75 years, boosting projected industry revenues by about 8.5 percent." [MSNBC, 12/28/04]

2004 Report Estimated $940 Billion In Fees From Privatization, "The Largest Windfall Gain In American Financial History." According to a report by prominent economist Austan Goolsbee, "Creating individual accounts in the social security system would lead to a massive increase in payments of financial fees to private financial management companies. Under Plan II of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security (CSSS), the net present value of such payments would be $940 billion...The fees would be the largest windfall gain in American financial history. The $940 billion payment to financial companies would be an increase more than 8 times larger than the decrease in revenue from the 2000-2002 collapse of the bubble." Plan II was the initial proposal that would create optional private retirement accounts, which the Bush administration favored. [The Fees of Private Accounts and the Impact of Social Security Privatization on Financial Managers, September 2004; Omaha World Herald, 12/28/04]

Ernst Acknowledged That "It Might" Cost More To Privatize Social Security And "There May Be A Few Years Where It Is Difficult." In a May 2014 interview with the Des Moines Register, The Registerasked, "You'd take social security pay roll taxes out of the mix and let young people invest that, then that money isn't going to pay the seniors that you've promised -- That's gonna cost you more in the long run, isn't it?" Ernst replied, "Well, it might, and that's why I said we need to take a look at this. This is something I'm willing to take a look at. But there may be a few years where it is difficult, but we have to change it." [Des Moines Register, 5/9/14]

"No one in Iowa should work a full-time job and live near or below the poverty line," said Braley. "It's been over five years since the last federal minimum wage increase, and the minimum wage buys less and less for Iowa's workers. I'm committed to raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour because I believe that all Iowans deserve a fair wage for a hard day's work. In contrast, Sen. Ernst again puts her reckless Tea Party agenda ahead of Iowans and thinks $7.25 an hour - just $15,000 a year - is an appropriate minimum wage for hardworking Iowans."

While Bruce Braley is fighting to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour to benefit older workers and families, state Sen. Joni Ernst is opposed to the federal minimum wage, and has repeatedly said that she thinks $7.25 an hour - which means a full-time worker takes home just $15,000 a year - is "appropriate for Iowa." Sen. Ernst showed just how out of touch she is when she said $7.25 is a "great starter wage for many high school students, those that are just getting into work experience," despite clear evidence that shows that raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would primarily benefit older workers.

Des Moines, IA - Today, Bruce Braley and Senator Tom Harkin visited the South Side Senior Center in Des Moines to meet with seniors and discuss the clear choice in the U.S. Senate race on retirement security.
 
"Today I had important conversations with Iowans about my commitment to protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare for generations to come," said Braley. "Social Security and Medicare are a promise that if you work hard, the benefits you've earned will be there for you when you retire. But Sen. Ernst has supported proposals that would privatize Social Security, gamble retirees' savings on Wall Street, and end Medicare as we know it. That's not a retirement plan for Iowans, that's a retirement plan for Wall Street executives--and it's wrong for Iowa."
 
Bruce Braley, who has earned the endorsement of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the Alliance for Retired Americans, has worked to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. Braley strongly opposes risky privatization schemes that end guaranteed benefits and put Iowa seniors' retirement security in the hands of Wall Street. Braley has also opposed efforts to reduce future Social Security benefits for retirees if cost-of-living increases were shifted to a so-called "chained CPI" calculation.
 
"Bruce Braley is a champion for our seniors and ensuring their retirement security is never gambled away with risky Tea Party schemes," said Harkin. "There's a clear choice in this election - Bruce Braley is the only candidate with a clear record of putting Iowa's seniors before the special interests. Iowa's seniors deserve a U.S. Senator like Bruce who will fight for them."

In contrast, state Sen. Joni Ernst has called privatizing Social Security-which would undermine the program and put benefits at risk-an "option." Sen. Ernst has also supported plans that would end Medicare's guaranteed benefits, increase health care costs, and reopen the donut hole.
 
 

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