Guest Blog: Paying Tribute to Jimmy Carter, Pension Champion

A version of this guest post was originally published by the Pension Rights Center.

By Karen Friedman

When Jimmy Carter was elected President in 1976, I was a young whipper snapper living in an old, disheveled group house in Washington D.C. When I think back on that time, I fondly remember that his Administration—dedicated to energy conservation, peace and human rights—inspired me and many of my friends to become social justice warriors.

It was thus fitting that yesterday a group of my activist friends (albeit a bit older and I hope wiser) joined throngs of other citizens to pay tribute to President Carter who was lying in state in the Capitol’s Rotunda.

President Carter accomplished so much as the many tributes about him reflect. But among his deserved accolades there is one that often gets overlooked: Jimmy Carter was a pension champion.

In 1978,  Jimmy Carter established the President’s Commission on Pension Policy, which was tasked with conducting a 2-year study of the nation’s pension systems and the future course of national retirement income policies. The Pension Rights Center (PRC) provided input to the Commission (through our own Citizens’ Commission on Pension Policy).

Among the most visionary of the study’s recommendations was the call for the establishment of a minimum universal pension system (on top of Social Security) that would require private employers to contribute at least 3% of payroll for all employees over the age of 25. Close to a half century later, despite the efforts of PRC and others, our nation has yet to enact an adequate and secure universal pension system akin to what President Carter recommended.  (Other Commission recommendations, e.g. to improve survivors’ benefits and protect spouses in divorce have since become law.)

The conversation that President Carter began those many years ago is needed more than ever today. We must continue to work together to create a pension system that, in conjunction with Social Security, provides adequate and secure retirement income to our nation’s working families.

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