Seventy-three years ago today, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. The country had been hit hard by the Great Depression, and many of our nation's senior citizens had been hit the hardest. Congress and the President made a promise to our seniors that a life of hard work would not end in poverty, and that is a promise we must continue to honor today.

But our promise of a secure retirement is endangered by the prospect of four more years of Republican control of the White House. Sen. McCain supported President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, and repeated that support in a March interview [1] with the Wall Street Journal. Over the last 73 years, Social Security has been a critical safety net for millions of American retirees, survivors of workers who die young and people with disabilities. The Democrats in Congress have worked hard to protect that safety net and we are going to need Barack Obama elected President if we are going to continue that work and ensure Social Security is available for generations to come.