| Social Security is a safety net for millions of seniors. Social Security is a retirement blanket, not an investment tool. President Bush and Mike Ferguson have no right to place Social Security in harm’s way. Social Security must not be privatized and must not be raided for tax breaks for the wealthy.
Mike Ferguson also has consistently opposed efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs for New Jerseyans, voting five times to prevent the importation of safe prescription drugs from other countries at lower prices.
For example, in 2003 Mike Ferguson supported a Medicare bill that was a gift to the pharmaceutical industry. The measure banned the government from negotiating lower drug prices, prevented the importation of safe prescription drugs at lower costs, and generated $139 billion in profits for drug companies. He even opposed a motion to allow the Health and Human Services secretary to negotiate lower prices.
Mike Ferguson should be working day-in and day-out to find ways to strengthen Social Security and Medicare and lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. But his ties to big drug companies raise some serious questions.
Mike Ferguson has received more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from drug companies since taking office. Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran once wrote: “Talk to Ferguson about the drug industry, and he sounds like a wind-up doll designed by industry lobbyists.”
When you look at his voting record in Congress, it seems like Mike Ferguson is working against seniors when he should be doing everything in his power to help them. The time for common-sense change has arrived. It’s time to vote Mike Ferguson out of Congress and protect seniors from him and other Bush Republicans who are looking to tear apart Social Security, weaken Medicare, and ignore the high costs of prescription drugs.
Enough is enough. Don’t let President Bush and Republicans like Mike Ferguson push seniors’ best interests aside for the sake of special interest groups. Vote for common-sense change on election day.
Assemblywoman Linda Stender is running for the US Congress in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District. Readers are encouraged to learn more about Linda Stender and Mike Ferguson |
