Seniors and Veterans Emergency Benefits Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, today I wish to join my colleagues in strong support of the SAVE Benefits Act. I wish to commend the excellent work done by my friend and the Senator from Massachusetts, Ms. Warren.
Millions of seniors and veterans deserve a little more money in their Social Security checks at the beginning of every year to help pay for the ever-increasing costs of rent and medicine and groceries. They earned it. The SAVE Benefits Act would provide a fair and well-deserved payment to our seniors receiving Social Security and veterans receiving Federal benefits who will not see a cost-of-living adjustment in their benefits next year. You see, next year there will be no official cost-of-living adjustment or COLA chiefly because the formula that determines it is heavily tied to the price of gasoline, which is low, but all the other cost-of-living indicators are up, including rent, medicine, and groceries. These are the costs our seniors are juggling most often.
I talk to seniors. They say: What is this? There is no inflation? My life costs me more each year--considerably more.
But because there was no official COLA even as those costs are going up, Social Security benefits will not increase by a single dime in 2016. And about two-thirds of seniors rely on Social Security for over half of their income.
If we don't help offset the increase in costs with an increase in these modest benefits, many people will be left with one of these excruciating choices: Do I buy more groceries or pay the rent this month? Can I afford putting off taking my medication for another day or another week or even another month?
In the past, when we had years without an official COLA, Congress stepped in. In 2009 there wasn't a COLA. We were in the throes of recession. But Congress stepped in and passed a law I strongly supported--the ARRA--to provide a one-time $250 payment to Social Security recipients and veterans to help them get through those tough times. Next year, we should do the same. But I hasten to add--I don't like to be partisan--in 2009 the House and Senate were Democratic, caring about Social Security. In 2015 the House and Senate are Republican, and we are getting no relief for seniors. Well, I hope that will change. The SAVE Benefits Act would change it. It would provide a one-time check of approximately $580 for our veterans and our seniors and fully pay for it by closing a loophole that benefits corporate compensation packages over $1 million. To boot, it would provide this benefit while also using some of the revenue to extend the life of Social Security.
In my State, over 4 million people would benefit--nearly 1.5 million women over the age of 65, a quarter of a million children, and half a million disabled workers in New York alone.
If we think about it in real terms, that $580 is almost 3 months of groceries or the average annual out-of-pocket expenses that a senior has for prescription drugs for Medicare.
This is the right thing to do. Social Security and veterans' benefits should rise to keep pace with prices, but unless Congress acts, our seniors and our veterans will not see any increase in their own benefits next year. It is time to fix that.
I want to ask who on the other side would say millionaires should continue to get to deduct their bonuses while senior citizens get no COLA. What percentage of Republicans in America would say that? What percentage of Independents?
This should not be a partisan issue. We should just pass it and help the seniors as we did in 2009 when the Congress was under different control. This is a real test of who cares for the seniors, who understands their struggles, and who understands the sweat seniors break out in when they have to pay the bills and they don't have enough money to pay basic expenses. Well, those who cosponsored this bill understand. Those who support this bill understand. I would like to hear from my colleagues who don't support it what their alternative is.
I urge my colleagues on the other side to join us in extending to our seniors and our veterans a fair increase in benefits that they earned.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source