Reply #31: Here's the entire quote where he said he would entertain raising it

[Tinoire]

Mr. Russert: In 1995…you were asked how would you balance the budget…. "The way to balance the budget, Dean said, is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut almost everything else. 'It would be tough but we could do it,' he said." would no longer cut Social Security?

Dr. Dean: But you don't—no. I'm not ever going to cut Social Security benefits.

Mr. Russert: Would you raise retirement age to 70?

Dr. Dean: Social Security, I—the best way to balance Social Security budget right now… is to expand the amount of money that Social Security payroll taxes apply to. It's limited now to something like $80,000. You let that rise. I also would entertain taking the retirement age to 68. It's at 67 now. I would entertain that.

Mr. Russert: In 1995…you were asked how would you balance the budget…. "The way to balance the budget, Dean said, is for Congress to cut Social Security, move the retirement age to 70, cut defense, Medicare and veterans pensions, while the states cut almost everything else. 'It would be tough but we could do it,' he said." would no longer cut Social Security?

Dr. Dean: But you don't—no. I'm not ever going to cut Social Security benefits.

Mr. Russert: Would you raise retirement age to 70?

Dr. Dean: Social Security, I—the best way to balance Social Security budget right now… is to expand the amount of money that Social Security payroll taxes apply to. It's limited now to something like $80,000. You let that rise. I also would entertain taking the retirement age to 68. It's at 67 now. I would entertain that.

Mr. Russert: But the deficit's $500 billion … You could close down the entire United States government, other than Social Security, Medicare and Defense and interest on the public debt, and you still wouldn't balance the budget.

Dr. Dean: But the problem for Social Security is that it is actually in fine shape until, I don't know, 2040 or something like that.

http://www.socialsecurity.org/dailys/07-02-03.html