Education: Harvard University, BA 1956; University of Virginia Law School, LLB 1959.
Occupation: US senator.
Political experience: First elected to the Senate in 1962 to complete the term of his brother President John F. Kennedy. Senator Kennedy is the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He serves on the Judiciary Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Immigration Sub committee.
Question: Given the current economic climate, what are your priorities for the budget surplus and why?
Answer: My first priority is to use the surplus to protect Social Security and Medicare to guarantee their financial strength for the future. Senior citizens deserve an ironclad guarantee that the health care and retirement benefits they have earned through years of hard work will be there for them when they retire.
We should modernize Medicare by providing a long overdue prescription drug benefit for every senior citizen under Medicare.
I would also use the surplus to improve the nation 's public schools. Students deserve smaller class sizes, better trained teachers, modern school buildings, and worthwhile after-school programs. I support programs that provide more skills training for adults that result in better jobs with higher pay and more security in this new, high tech economy. I would use a portion of the surplus to take greater steps to see that all Americans have access to quality health care at an affordable cost.
Third, I support using the surplus for targeted tax cuts for working families. I support eliminating the marriage penalty, increasing the standard deduction, and expanding the child care credit. I support new tax deductions to make college more affordable, and tax incentives that encourage saving money for retirement and help families care for aging parents.
I support Vice President Gore 's plan to free future generations of Americans from federal debt burden by using a portion of the surplus to eliminate the debt by the year 2012.
