In his strategy to win the Democratic presidential nomination, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is proposing to expand Social Security.

“Social Security is one of our country’s greatest collective achievements,” O’Malley stated, which touts the program’s effectiveness in keeping millions of elderly Americans out of poverty since it was implemented in 1935. “We cannot ask seniors with modest savings to live on even less.”

According to O'Malley, the plan would be to increase monthly benefits “in a progressive manner for all retirees” while implementing policy changes to lift the wages of all workers.

His plan includes increased benefits for all current and future retirees, improved long-term fiscal outlook, reject efforts of increasing the retirement age and raising the minimum wage. O'Malley promised to reject the privatization of Social Security and increase penalties for those defrauding seniors. 

Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), championed the focus that liberal candidates such as O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have brought to their platforms, stating, "'Expand Social Security' should be the mantra of all Democrats in 2016.”

In a statement sent to Latin Post, Taylor expressed that “Social Security hasn't kept up with the rising cost of living for seniors, so it's no wonder that expanding Social Security benefits is popular with voters across the political spectrum -- Republican, Independent, and Democratic.”

The PCCC have urged fellow Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to follow O'Malley and Sanders' footsteps on Social Security. 

Several Republican presidential candidates have called for reducing Social Security benefits by raising the age of retirement or actually privatizing the program.

Clinton has been vocal about the priority Social Security holds in her campaign. Speaking in New Hampshire in April, Clinton rhetorically asked, “What do we do to make sure it is there? We don’t mess with it, and we do not pretend that it is a luxury -- because it is not a luxury. It is a necessity for the majority of people who draw from Social Security.”

“I think there will be some big political arguments about Social Security,” Clinton said, adding, “My only question to everybody who thinks we can privatize Social Security or undermine it in some way -- and what is going to happen to all these people, like you, who worked 27 years at this other company? What’s going to happen? It’s just wrong.”

To read O'Malley's Social Security platform, click here.