SPENCER, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry stepped more deeply into the tricky issue of Social Security on Saturday, saying he is open to raising the age for receiving benefits and limiting them for upper-income people.
The Texas governor told an Iowa audience that “it makes sense” to increase the eligibility age because Americans are living longer. The age for full benefits is now 65 to 67, depending on a person’s date of birth.
He also said it might be time to limit payments for higher- income people, a process known as means-testing.
“I don’t have a problem with that concept,” Perry said in Sioux City, Iowa.
And he raised the possibility of creating “private accounts” for Americans who want to opt out of the Social Security program, a notion that Democrats typically have strongly opposed. The Associated Press
