Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
None of us are growing any younger.
That fact will be the rallying cry used by local members of the Silver Haired Congress, appointed by Congress to focus on the concerns of older Americans. They insist that the concerns of seniors should be the concerns of everyone.
Their number one concern is keeping Social Security sound, "now and for the future," one of 45 resolutions adopted by a previous conference and discussed Wednesday by Nevada seniors.
About 50 local seniors met with the Nevada delegation to the Silver Haired Congress to address "Senior Issues and Aging Policy: Challenges Ahead for the 21st Century."
Four Nevada seniors have been appointed to the non-partisan forum of 100 silver senators and 435 silver representatives: Dalton Wellman, appointed by Sen. Harry Reid; Thelma Clark, appointed by Sen. Richard Bryan; Ruth Mills appointed by Rep. John Ensign; and Jean Maher, appointed by Rep. Barbara Vucanovich.
Silver senators will serve for four years and silver representatives for two. The National Congress will meet as a whole annually.
Local representatives said they want and need to dispel the characterization that seniors are only concerned about themselves at the expense of the country's youth.
"It's not about old people trying to take away the future of the young. We're trying to preserve the quality of life for seniors in the future," Mills explained. "Because look at it this way, how much of the future do we, who are seniors now, have left."
Among the concerns is that with an increasing senior population that's living longer and a smaller proportion of young workers, benefit expenses for the elderly will soon exceed money flowing into the system. This has left many younger citizens skeptical of contributing to a system that could be bankrupt by the time they are old enough to withdraw.
"That's what we're trying to fix," said Wellman, the chairman of the state delegation. "Young people are saying that they are paying into the system and seniors are eating it all up, but they have to consider that we have paid for our benefits. I've paid in for more than 55 years."
He said the problem is that Social Security has been used as a legislative "slush fund" to finance wars and other endeavors for which it was not intended. The solution is for seniors and young people now to work together and create a system that stabilizes funding, "instead of making it a gamble like the stock market."
Mills said she is one senior who is willing to see the big picture, which includes the youth of America as allies that must be considered in their discussions.
"It has been said that the wisdom of a nation lies in its elderly," Mills said. "It is the hope of this delegation that at this historic event that that wisdom will be directed toward all of the problems facing America today."
The National Congress will be officially sworn in and will hold their inaugural congressional session Feb. 8-15 in Washington, D.C.
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