Louise Clark Goddard, of the iconic “Harry and Louise” ads, is speaking out against President Trump’s handling of Social Security. In a new video released by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the actress — who appeared in a series of famous tv ads opposing the Clinton health care plan in the early 1990s — says Trump is endangering seniors’ earned benefits.
“Despite Trump’s promises not to touch Social Security, he has issued an executive order to temporarily defer payroll taxes,” says Goddard in the video. “He’s now promising to eliminate payroll taxes entirely if he is re-elected president. Without them, Social Security will be totally defunded in just 2 ½ years.”
The National Committee strongly opposes President Trump’s deferral of employee payroll taxes, a major funding source for workers’ Social Security benefits. President Trump pledged to “terminate” payroll taxes in a second term, which Social Security’s chief actuary said would bankrupt the retirement trust fund by 2023 — at which point the program would pay zero benefits.
“I don’t think President Trump has the foggiest idea how Social Security is funded. If he is re-elected, and follows through on his scheme to eliminate payroll taxes, the entire Social Security program will be at risk. We’re grateful to Louise Goddard for acting on her convictions and telling seniors what’s truly at stake in this election — their earned benefits and their overall well-being.”– Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Goddard, along with fellow actor Harry Johnson, appeared in a series of advertisements against the Clinton health care plan from 1993 to 1995, and in the “Cures Now” ad for stem cell research in 2002. The pair also was featured in ads favoring health care reform during the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns — and in a similarly themed spot that aired during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. In, 2009 Harry and Louise appeared in a television ad in support of President Obama’s health care plan that eventually became the Affordable Care Act.
Now retired, Goddard says she felt compelled to speak out as a public service about President Trump’s blatant disregard for Social Security and the 68 million Americans who depend on their monthly benefit checks. “I’ve never been more worried about what’s happening to seniors and what is at risk,” Goddard told National Committee president Max Richtman in a taped Q&A following her video testimonial. “President Trump’s plans… they’re just so scary. And I care (about this issue) very much.”
Breaking with 38 years of precedent, the National Committee on September 17th endorsed Joe Biden for president as the far better choice for both workers and retirees.