COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - President Barack Obama has plenty of critics in South Carolina and few issues anger them more than the president's success on healthcare reform.

But in Columbia, Congressman Jim Clyburn told seniors that bill will save Social Security and provide a range of other benefits.

Social Security is 75 now and of vital importance to folks like retired teacher Adell Adams.

"I get retirement and I think I get pretty good retirement," said Adams. "But without Social Security, my life would be much more stringent. I would have a hard time with it."

Clyburn is one of the programs supporters and according to him, this year's healthcare reform bill pumped new life into a program that benefits nearly 900,000 South Carolinians.

"We fixed Social Security's longevity in that bill for 10 to 20 years," said Clyburn. "You ain't hearing nobody talking about, is it going to be there for you because we fixed it in the healthcare reform bill. And so everybody needs to know that."

A few years ago a Columbia newspaper editorial criticized Congressman Jim Clyburn for making a large number of small earmarks. It asked, "Why doesn't he do something big?" Well, he has. The big one -- $1.6 billion to clean up 55 square miles of roped-off, contaminated soil bordering the Savannah River -- has already hired 3,500 of an expected work force of 5,000 people for a 30-month project.

The money comes from the federal stimulus act, which many "conservatives" have attacked for "not creating jobs."

As Clyburn likes to point out, the Savannah River Site (the research and development center for atomic and hydrogen bomb research), isn't located in his district. "They've been trying to do something there for more than 20 years," Clyburn says, "to get the 35,000-acre tract cleaned and available for productive use."

He turns 70 this week. And U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn fully grasps the biblical significance of July 21, 2010.

Clyburn will get his three score and 10 years Wednesday, man’s life expectancy, according to Psalms 90:10.

He is looking forward to a fourth or fifth score, thanks to good health and modern medicine.

“The fire is still there,” said Clyburn, last week reflecting on his tenure and fielding questions about his future. “Physically I’m well. (Cholesterol drug) Lipitor is my only daily medicine. Of course, I take my baby aspirin every day. Or every day I remember (it).”

Clyburn, fresh off of celebrating the passage of Democratic-authored financial industry reform last week, has no plans to retire. He’s been a member of Congress for 18 years now. He made history in 1992 as the first African-American congressman elected from South Carolina in more than 100 years. For the past four years, he’s been the third-most powerful U.S. House member.

The brand new James E. Clyburn Community Health Center sits in a familiar North Columbia neighborhood on Monticello Road, just down the road from Eau Claire High School and across the street from Capital City Church.

The $1.6 million facility will play an important role in the community as a health care center serving residents with limited access to traditional medical practices.

It was built in just 10 months after qualifying for federal funding from the Recovery Act as a “shovel-ready” project poised to spur immediate activity in construction and infrastructure. The Eau Claire Cooperative Health Centers had the project ready and waiting.