giving the holiday week to have a little bit of additional time and i want to thank the committee staff for their hard work. this concludes our hearing. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> so there you go, hearing from back in june. senator collins saying she thinks we are facing a tsunami of retirees who are going to outlive their savings and they have not prepared for retirement . we are asking you, and you can see the phone numbers -- how is it going? are you retired? are you able to not work? have you put enough money away? for would you like to presidential candidates to say, do, or propose on those issues? nevada, with donald on our line, over 55. hi, donald. caller: hello. >> how is it going for you? are you tired? disabled, 1999

from an accident. i used to work part-time, but then i had another accident and the doctor screwed me up for life so now i can hardly walk without taking some -- >> donald, do you receive the social security disability benefit? caller: yeah. >> that enough to live on? caller: no. my wife has cancer and she signed up exactly a year ago and it still has not yes or no answer from social security after a year. >> donald? caller: people who are drawing social security, two of them are meth addicts, which were in their brain now -- >> or would you like to say to the presidential candidates? save social security? anybody who caused the wrong problem by taking math or whatever -- meth or whatever and

burn their brain out on it, or alcoholics -- i work for 30 years, and they get $30 less than i do, and i've been drawing this since 1999, and they come on it now and they make $30 less than me and never worked a day in their life. >> we will move on to california. stephanie. she says she is 55. you are right on the borderline. you ready to retire? are you going to be able to do so? i will not be retiring. participate in hearings such as because i have to tell you,

again, that i'm fearful of what congress is going to do with ssi are concerned. tone is quite hateful, unlike the years because i was employed and had a really good job. however, i'm quite fearful. in january and i don't have a lot of savings. i've paid into the system. congress needs to -- these two programs had issues long before t baby boomers started to retir. this anxiety that they instill upon us and even people at work, is quite disgusting, and it

does cause anxiety. >> jeffrey in atlanta for our line for those over 55. how are you doing? are you retired? would you be able to retire? do you have enough money to do so? i have no choice, i was laid off in january. no, i don't have enough money to retype it in the interim i have exhausted social security -- not social security, sorry. on employment, all 17 weeks of it. the only hope i got from there is they suggested i go for training out of my pocket, but i'm still paying for the last training i did. >> what kind of work did you do, jeffrey? caller: i worked in telik mitigations. >-- telecommunications. >> what message do you have for those running for president? hower: of course i can see modification of social security

for those of higher income might be necessary, and i agree with that but secondly, as far as do in factens who need to work, the department of labor provides resources that address that specific need, which there is nothing to be any at this time that i'm aware of. , thank yout, well for the call and good luck. thomas in san jose, california. how are you doing, thomas? caller: ok, i want to delay here. i was forced to retire at 62 due i applied for so social security and i've been getting it since. interim i got a job, $12 an hour, but i had to take it. now i get a letter from social security saying that in 2013 and $15,000.ave made over i guess that is what the limit is.

so now they are pointed take all my social security for the rest of the year and i am not going to get anything. i live in silicon valley. only get from social security, $940, and they will take that away from you. >> thomas, real quick, do you have a message for congress or the presidential candidates, something you would like them to know? nextr: yes, this so-called month $50,400, they have to , looking at the cost of living, the standard in silicon valley, you cannot even rent a room for that. >> tell you what, we will take some more calls in just a minute. let's show you a little bit of what senator claire mccaskill from missouri after the human resources executive with of the catholic hospital system at that hearing we just showed you, and then some more of your calls. if you are under 55, you can call

here is claire mccaskill from the hearing on june 23. sen. mccaskill: let me ask first, mr. goodwin, is your culture reflects ability born out of necessity -- culture of flexibility born out of necessity due to the nursing shortage, or did it happen organically because of the recognition of the organization of the skills that were walking up the door? the shortageell, of health to workers in general, not just nurses, have caused health care employers across the nation to be more flexible. it is somewhat easier for us to be flexible because we have such a wide variety of types of jobs as well as schedules and so forth. in health care we historically have had mostly female workers, and because of how things were in the 1950's and so forth, we had to be in a position to work around on school schedules and working moms and so forth. transcends ally

aspects of our workforce. being flexible helps older workers. it also helps working mothers and reservists and national guardsmen and also as of others. it is organic and that sense. sen. mccaskill: it seems that the flex ability of work schedules is something that has come i think, become much more prevalent in the last decade, but there is a lot of segments of our economy out there that have not recognized the validity , whether it is age of workers or hours of work. sen. mccaskill asking iftaking calls you are retired, do you have enough to retire, and what message, if any, would you like to pass to those here in washington? what do you think that congress for the presidential candidates should and could do to help you out? mark is on our line for those

under 55. high there, mark. caller: hi, how you doing? >> good. are you going to be able to retire? i'm never going to retire by choice. personally, for me, retirement means stopping being active, and i have just changed careers as i get older to match my physical and mental abilities. i enjoy working. i started working when i was 18. my parents taught me at an early age, don't count on social security or the government or anybody else for your financial well-being. count on yourself and your .amily for doing that and it has worked out pretty good for me. >> you plan to keep working as long as you can? caller: i want to work until the day i die. i enjoy working. again, i don't do the same kind of work that i did when i was 18 or when i was 40.

but my message in closing, because i know you have other callers, to the politicians is twofold. one, replace the money took out of the lockbox so that those who did pay in -- and it is not an entitlement. people paid into that, and they are eligible for it. raising the age makes sense to me only because people are living longer. but means testing is not right. if you paid into the system, what does it matter whether you were responsible for your money 40 years are not? don't punish people for saving and paying down their bills and living within their means could i have no data at all. i own my house free and clear. i only live on half the money that i'm a and i have always done that -- i make and i have always done that. not only am i ok, my kids will be ok. >> good to hear. we will move on to the east coast. old line, connecticut, is that the town? caller: i'm on right now -- hi,

i'm right here. >> you are on c-span. caller: i want to say that every week at age 70 i go on and unloaded trucks and i am standing there with a lot of nice vendors and a very nice market in raleigh, massachusetts. i travel almost three hours to go there because it is such a pleasant atmosphere, and it is one of the best markets in the northeast. however, i've got to say that the people that are coming along more and more have no money in their pockets, and we get less and less revenue. as seniors, and most of the people on the field are seniors trying to make a little extra money to make ends meet. with programs like this, and we hear people talk about things in washington. what we really want to say to the local and state governments, forget the federal government, because i don't think they hear us at all, is that the people have no money now, and that we need to stop spending.

all right, carol, we appreciate your call. thank you very, very much. let's move back to california. a lot of calls from california this evening. from santa clara, calling on our line for those under 55. do you plan on retiring? if so, what age, do you think you will have enough money to do it? caller: yes, ask it, i'm very, economyteful for the and i believe in growth of the economy, and i am always one hoping for the best. all of the people that will be retiring, you know? however, i would ask congress to please improve the disability system, and also please do something with the employers that are actually not hiring somebody or firing somebody due to a medical condition.

that is what i did when i went to college. at an early age after college, i moved to los angeles. -- workingng at the in los angeles for many years. re.ctually got hired the i worked for many years and my -- my accounting work, he was totally fine with me doing that. i have epileptic seizures. i, real quick, because we have more calls we've got to take -- any message for washington or presidential candidates? caller: i got fired when a new boss came in.

i had an epileptic seizure. that's not right. living on social security disability, i can't make a valley, santaicon clara, california. it's not very good. >> all right, i'm going to move on, but thanks for the call, heidi. good luck. annandale, virginia. hi, ron. you are calling on the life of those under 55. would you think? ron, you are there. go ahead, you are on c-span. under 55, ithose is a blessing that we didn't have our social security invested in the market, that's the first thing. the only message i have to do politicians is simply if you are a millionaire, you shouldn't have a cap on your social security. >> all right, thank you for the call. one last call. toledo.o go to peter in you will get the last word this go around. you are calling on the line for

those over 55. are you retire, and if not, why not? caller: i had been a delivery driver for before years and a week suffered two ay i optic strokes that left me blind. some of the problems that we and unablee are sick to work like that is you don't you fy for unemployment so actually have no income unless any type of disability ulucky i policy which did. but then the wait to apply for disability is on average two years and the people make it on gled to an average two year