Congresswoman Susan Wild is a mother, attorney, public servant, and a dedicated member of the Greater Lehigh Valley community for more than 30 years.
The daughter of a journalist and a career Air Force officer, she was born at Wiesbaden Air Force Base in West Germany, and spent her childhood on Air Force bases across our country and around the world—an experience that shaped her lifelong commitment to the families that serve and sacrifice alongside our servicemembers. After years of moving around, she finally found a place to call home when she settled in the Lehigh Valley to start her family. Susan built a successful legal practice in the Valley while raising her two children, Clay and Addie, and later became the first woman to be appointed Allentown's City Solicitor. In November 2018, she made history again when she was elected as the first woman to represent Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
As a Member of Congress, I am deeply committed to protecting the programs that our seniors rely on most. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all critical to ensuring our seniors can retire with dignity. I will fight to strengthen these programs and prevent changes that would limit accessibility or negatively reconfigure eligibility.
Social Security
Since the original Social Security Act was signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, Social Security has grown to become an essential lifeline for retired and disabled Americans. Today, Social Security is the nation’s cornerstone economic security program. Social Security is more than a government program—it is a promise between each generation of workers. I am and will always be an unwavering champion of protecting and strengthening the Social Security benefits that our workers have earned through a lifetime of hard work. Every year that I have served in Congress, I have successfully led a push to increase funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to ensure that SSA offices have the resources to serve the greatest number of beneficiaries. I won’t stop fighting until we have an adequately funded, adequately staffed SSA able to serve every American in need.
As long as I have the honor of serving my constituents in Congress, I will remain a steadfast voice for protecting and strengthening Social Security.
Medicare and Medicaid
Medicare and Medicaid are imperative programs for seniors, and I will do everything I can to fight privatization efforts and cuts. We must instead strengthen Medicare and Medicaid and empower them with the tools to effectively deliver affordable health care as they are on the frontline in the fight against skyrocketing health care costs and outrageous prescription drug prices. I have been leading the charge in Congress to finally give Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices to ensure that Americans are no longer price-gouged for life-saving medications. We can then use these savings to expand Medicare to finally cover hearing, dental and vision care for our seniors.
I know how important both Medicare and Medicaid are to seniors. For the most part, Medicare does not cover nursing home care but someone turning 65 years old today has almost a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care in their remaining years. These seniors very often rely on Medicaid. In fact, Medicaid covers six in ten nursing home residents. I will continue fighting to prevent cuts to Medicaid so that our seniors and people with disabilities can get the care they need.
I am also very proud that my amendment to the Dignity in Aging Act to provide mental health screenings for seniors was included in the final legislation signed into law by the President. The Dignity in Aging Act reauthorized and builds on the Older Americans Act, which funds vital programs like Meals on Wheels. This bipartisan legislation that I helped pass gave these vital seniors programs an immediate seven percent increase in fiscal year 2020 and a six percent increase every year thereafter.