"We are proud to be a part of a political party that created Social Security
under Franklin Roosevelt," Durbin told a cheering, partisan crowd of about
150 at the Central Illinois Regional Airport.

"The challenge now is to see that Social Security is not given away to the
smooth talkers in Washington," said Durbin, who is running against
Republican state Rep. Dick Durkin in the Nov. 5 election.

That means ending any move to privatize Social Security "and take these
life-long earnings of workers across America and toss them into a stock
market which we have seen has been bumping along the bottom for almost two
years now," he said.

Durbin also said private pension funds must be secure from scandals on Wall
Street.

"When it comes to pension rights, workers who have spent a lifetime paying
into pension plans with a promise that when they retire they are going to
have a basic income and health care, that promise has to be kept," Durbin
said.

Durbin has sponsored legislation to close bankruptcy loopholes that allow
corporate insiders to accumulate and protect assets they obtain from the
company, and give employees and retirees a fairer claim on remaining in the
company's pension plan.

Durbin also is co-sponsor of the Protecting America's Pensions Act that
would expand employees' rights to place retirement benefits into other
investments besides company stock and allow employees to serve on boards
that oversee retirement plans.

The act, among other things, also would require disclosure to employees of
company stock sales by executives and hold employers liable for misleading
investment information given to employees and retirees.

Publication: Pantagraph
Date: Otober 29, 2002
Author: Scott Richardson

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