U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., lambasted the Bush administration’s position on social programs Friday, saying the White House is focusing on the wrong problems.
Price spoke with a group of more than 50 people at Carol Woods Retirement Community as part of a recent effort to visit area senior centers to discuss national issues that might have local effects.
Price criticized what he saw as the Bush administration’s plan to cut social programs by blaming them for budget overruns and its plan for Social Security reform.
“There is a strategy afoot … to place the blame for our fiscal meltdown on domestic discretionary spending,” Price said. “We’re not going broke because we’re doing too much cancer research, and we’re not going broke because we’re building too much affordable housing.”
He also said the president’s plan for Social Security reform was the wrong approach to take, instead advocating for an additional private investment plan.
“People need to save beyond Social Security,” Price said. “Let’s do it above and beyond Social Security. Let’s calm down and look at these arguments and then figure out for the long term what we want to do.”
Price said national issues such as Social Security and Medicare now are more pressing for the elderly than are local issues.
Jerry Passmore, director of the Orange County Department on Aging, said those issues are likely the most important for the elderly.
When asked about services for seniors in the county, Price said that while there is still work to be done, Orange County already offers an array of services for the elderly.
