Forty Years Ago This Week: Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation gave their takes on the future of Social Security benefits after President Reagan proposed a budget “safety net” that promised millions of individuals nearing retirement that they would not suffer from budget setbacks.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Wirth told The Colorado Statesman that he was “deeply concerned about the future solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund.”

“As I have said for several years, changes will have to be made to ensure that present and future seniors receive the benefits they need and are entitled to during their retirement,” Wirth was quoted. “In addition, we must halt the enormously inflationary Social Security payroll tax increase we are now experiencing.”

Wirth argued that Reagan’s proposals would drastically decrease benefits for thousands of workers, especially those who chose to retire early – many of whom did so because of poor health.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Gary Hart said that the Social Security hearings did not offer any new conclusive evidence. “Rules should not be changed in the middle,” Hart’s office told The Statesman.

U.S. Rep. Hank Brown’s office said that while funding was tenuous, the congressman did not support Reagan’s proposals with drastic cuts in benefits, rather “cuts in other programs should be made.”

Rep. Ray Kogosvek’s press secretary said, “Congressman Kogovsek has recognized some opposition to Ronald Reagan’s proposals by Republicans, so he’s backed off.”

Specifically, Kogovsek was severely opposed to the cutbacks in the $122 a month minimum Social Security payment for Colorado’s 475,000 citizens over the age of 65.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder argued that the Republican administration was crying wolf and that the proponents of the theory that the SSA was going broke were manipulating the situation to get Reagan’s economic package through congress.

Meanwhile, Robert Hubbard, president of the Colorado Senior Lobby, struck a statesmanly balance, saying that the truth lay somewhere in the middle.

“People are scared,” Hubbard said. “And the people I talk to are hostile – towards the problem and towards the government for getting us into it.”

Bob Robinson, director of the Colorado Senior lobby, admitted to The Statesman that he was a committed Republican, “but someone is crying a little too much wolf – the administration and [Sen.] Armstrong. There are problems with the Social Security System. The program was designed to do certain things, but over the years Congress has been adding things to it. It’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Fifteen Years Ago: After an unsuccessful session on illegal immigration reform, Republican legislators publicly argued that jobs were the root cause of illegal immigration and called for strict laws to target business hiring undocumented workers.

But several lawmakers expressed their dismay after Colorado business owners pressured Gov. Bill Owens to abandon “burdensome” legislation.

The sole bill to come out of the special session, House Bill 06-1017, required Colorado employers to attest that they had checked the legal status of all new hires and to keep such records on file.

Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, sponsored legislation (HB 06-1018) that would have required employers to verify an applicant’s legal status through a state-issued driver’s license or identification card. But it wasn’t to be.

Republicans said that the proposal had Owens’ support until he had several closed-door meetings with prominent business leaders.

Denver heavyweight attorney Steve Farber attended one such meeting, but he downplayed his influence on the governor when questioned by reporters. But what he told the governor wasn’t opaque in the least.

“I communicated to [Owens] what I had heard from the construction industry,” Farber said, “which is that if HD 1018 were to go into effect, they wouldn’t have a workforce and would have to shut down.”

Rachael Wright is the author of the Captain Savva Mystery series, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing writer to Colorado Politics and The Gazette.