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Rethinking Retirement Is Necessary

How can Congress help seniors in the work force?

By Sen. Herb Kohl
Special to Roll Call
Feb. 12, 2007, 2:39 p.m.

New challenges — and new opportunities — await us as our aging population doubles within the next decade. Today, people over the age of 65 make up roughly 12 percent of the population, but in the next 25 years they will account for almost 20 percent. That means one out of every five Americans will be a senior by 2030, at which time economists predict that businesses could face a labor force shortage of 35 million workers. They warn that this could translate into slower economic growth, and therefore lower living standards for everyone.

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February 9, 2012

Rep. Michele Bachmann, who recently suspended her campaign for the presidency, speaks at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 9.

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