Social Security
Floor Speech
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the body to talk about Social Security.
I am pleased to be joined by so many of my colleagues from across the country who understand what Martin Luther King called the fierce urgency of now, and why the United States Congress has to act.
It has been more than 51 years since the United States Congress has enhanced the benefits of Social Security. Richard Nixon was President, and a gallon of milk cost 72 cents.
Much has changed in 51 years, and now, I am proud to announce today that the Ways and Means Committee will be marking up Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust, next Wednesday and, in doing so, for the first time in 51 years Congress will be moving forward to enhance benefits for those who need it the most.
Why do I say that?
Everybody in America knows that this pandemic, this global pandemic that we are in, has caused unbelievable harm across the globe and here in this country.
But who has it affected the most?
Of the close to 1 million people who have perished in the United States, over 756,000 of them are over the age of 65.
And who is the group that has been hurt the most by the ensuing inflation that comes from a global pandemic and a war in Ukraine?
It is people on a fixed income. It is the more than 65 million Americans that are on Social Security.
I commend President Biden for taking the leadership in this area; who campaigned across the country, assuring Americans that Social Security was a sacred trust; which, indeed, it is because it has never missed a payment.
We used to have to go back to 1935 and talk about the Great Depression. We only have to go back as far as 2008 and 2009 because people understand during the Great Recession, when they saw their 401(k) become a 101(k), that Social Security never missed a payment, not a pension payment, not a spousal payment, not a dependent payment, not a disability payment.
It is America's number one insurance program. And all Americans know this, and it is easily verified, weekly or monthly, when they look at their paycheck and it says FICA, Federal Insurance Contribution.
Whose?
Theirs. It is an earned benefit that they have paid into throughout their lives.
And yet, Congress has not acted in 51 years, until now. Under the leadership of President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, and Chairman Richard Neal, we are moving forward with legislation that will provide much- needed relief to people struggling in this pandemic and dealing with inflation.
I am pleased that I am joined today by so many of my colleagues who have told their stories over and over again about the citizens that they are interacting with, and what an enormous burden this pandemic and inflation has caused for them, and now, finally, for Congress to act.
And how so?
Improving benefits across the board by more than 2 percent for everyone; making sure that nobody who worked all their lives and paid into a system can retire into poverty; making sure that we have a COLA that actually reflects the cost that people incur; making sure that we repeal WEP and GPO, so that teachers and firefighters--something that Mr. Pascrell has championed his whole time here in Congress--understand that relief is on its way because Democrats care deeply about this.
We are faced, as well, with an alternative from the other side. And here is the simple difference. Republicans have proposed to end Social Security. Republicans have proposed to cut Social Security across the board by more than 21 percent in 20 different separate proposals in their Republican Study Plan.
They have also called, in committee, in the eight hearings that we have had on Social Security, to still privatize Social Security.
Democrats stand, not just to protect Social Security, but to expand Social Security for those that need it the most. And those assembled here today understand how vitally important it is.
Kaptur), the ``deaness'' of the House of Representatives, and someone who understands intuitively, women need this benefit the most. And in this country more than 3 million Americans receive below poverty-level checks from Social Security, and the vast majority of them are women.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank Ms. Kaptur and greatly appreciate the gentlewoman from Ohio's comments.
I yield to the gentleman Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright), who also understands and has worked tirelessly as an original cosponsor of this bill to make sure that several of the benefits, more than 14 enhancements to this bill, are now going to be enjoyed by the people of Pennsylvania and all across this Nation.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman, but it actually is authored by 206 Members of the United States Congress, and I appreciate all the work that has been done.
The gentleman was correct. This is the number one antipoverty program for the elderly. It is also the number one antipoverty program for children. It is also the program that more veterans use for disability than any, even the VA. It is the most efficient and effective government program in terms of cost.
They operate in insurance language at what is called a 99 percent loss ratio which means this: It costs less than 1 percent administrative costs to distribute the greatest insurance program. The greatest antipoverty program for the elderly, for children, and for veterans is all done by Social Security. That is why we need to expand it.
On the Committee on Ways and Means, Chairman Neal had a Racial Equity Committee that our colleagues all participated in, and one of the shining stars of that was none other than Stacey Plaskett from the Virgin Islands, who understands that if we want to focus on what John Lewis called the next great challenge for civil rights, it was to recognize how Social Security has treated women and specifically women of color and Black males.
I recognize Stacey Plaskett from the Virgin Islands.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments, and especially as it relates to staff, also for her comments about this is the cornerstone, a key ground-laying cornerstone of the human infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time we have remaining?
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Lois Frankel).
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his unwavering support and dedication not only to the firefighters, police, and teachers across this country who will benefit from this legislation, but all Americans, and especially those in Paterson, New Jersey, who he has dedicated his life to serving.
Lois Frankel), a woman who understands the significance of Social Security, hailing from the State of Florida, which is probably the senior center capital of the world in terms of the population there of senior citizens.
Before yielding to the gentlewoman, I recognize the number of committees that have come out in support of this legislation, including the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Social Security Works, the NAACP, the National Organization of Women, the Latinos for a Secure Retirement, the National Education Association, the AFT, and more than 350 organizations have come and endorsed the work of Lois Frankel, who understands what seniors need not only in Florida but across this Nation.
Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Larson, for spearheading this fight to keep Social Security secure.
It is hard to believe that Republicans actually want to stop the program in 5 years so they can reassess. I tell you, that is big trouble. It is big trouble if they do that for the millions and millions of Americans who depend on Social Security; 4.5 million, Mr. Larson who live in the State of Florida.
Our workers spend their lives working hard for these benefits, and so don't they deserve when they retire to make sure that they have enough money to see that their bills are paid? That is why the Social Security 2100 Act is so important.
It is going to improve a needed bump to the cost of living. It is going to provide a special benefit for low-wage earners, folks like waitresses and custodians, nurses' aides, people who are important to our economy.
This is a big deal. It is a big deal, especially for the retirees who depend on Social Security to cover their everyday expenses. Just ask Alice from my hometown, who was a housekeeper her entire life. She worked 40 hours a week until she turned 65. She is earning $923 a month on Social Security. Her rent just increased to a whopping $855 a month. That is not sustainable. That is not right. That is not what America is about. No one who has worked hard their entire life should retire into poverty.
I am proud to join my colleagues, overwhelming support from Democrats for the Social Security 2100 Act. It has got the updates we need to keep this critical program working now and for the future.
Let me just say, the timing of this bill could not be more urgent.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for her comments.
Every now and again, we find leaders in the country who may come from the House but all of a sudden take on national prominence. Why is that? Because they speak straightforwardly to the people, in the case of Tim Ryan, in Ohio, but they are really speaking to the entire Nation.
What are they talking about? The more than 10,000 baby boomers a day who become eligible for Social Security and the individuals who have worked all of their lives and paid into a program and receive below- poverty-level checks from their government, and also a pay-for in this program that has the wealthiest people paying their fair share simply by lifting the cap on people making over $400,000. That is four-tenths of 1 percent of the American public. Even with that, they will be paying proportionately less than a person earning $35,000 to $50,000 a year.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for his remarks. I am so proud he is going to be going to the United States Senate because, in the United States Senate, Mr. Scott from Florida has proposed ending Social Security in 5 years. Ohio needs to make sure that it is sending someone to the United States Senate who is not going to end Social Security in 5 years but is going to expand Social Security now, when we need it, when we are in the worst pandemic in the history of the country, when we are suffering through inflation. The time to act is now.
As Martin Luther King would say, it is the fierce urgency of now. It has been 51 years since Congress has done anything.
That is something that Ted Lieu of California understands and has been working tirelessly, as an original cosponsor of this bill, to reach out not only to the citizens of California but all across this country to make sure that they are going to have the benefits that can sustain them. Our goal is to expand benefits, not cut them.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his comments.
I will point out that this is a bipartisan plan, probably more correctly called nonpartisan. Why? Because Independents, Democrats, and Republicans of all ages, of all backgrounds and ethnic groups, support Social Security because it is, as President Biden indicated, a sacred trust.
As Congressman Ryan pointed out, whether you are in a rural area or an urban area, whether you are on the coast or in the Great Plains of this country, you are impacted by Social Security. This is about your mother and father. It is about your brothers and sisters.
It is what I call the great mirror test. If you can look your constituents in the eye--and we have provided every Member of Congress with a card that says: How many of your constituents receive Social Security?
It is Congress' responsibility. This is not something that can happen through executive order. This is not something that the Supreme Court is going to rule on. This is only something that Congress can do.
We are blessed in the House that we have a great leader in Nancy Pelosi. It was Nancy Pelosi, back in 2005 that led the charge that was ``Horatius at the bridge,'' so to speak, to prevent the privatization of Social Security, and we were successful.
Thank God we were, for had that plan succeeded, 2008 and 2009 would have been far more disastrous. Yet, as we all know, Social Security, in the midst of that recession, never missed a payment, not a spousal or a dependent payment, not a disability payment, and not a pension payment.
And now it is Nancy Pelosi as well. Along with President Biden and Democrats--and frankly, a number of Republicans--who know in their hearts and know because when they give that mirror test and go home and look at their family members, in the midst of this pandemic, in the midst of this inflation, the most successful and the most efficiently run governmental program that we have should be embraced by everyone to give the access and relief that our seniors need, that our disabled veterans need, that our children continue to need.
President Eisenhower and President Nixon, the last President under whom we expanded Social Security benefits, that was in 1971, and a gallon of milk cost 72 cents--what seniors have endured. And like most, like my mother, would turn to their children and say: Don't worry about me. I don't want to be a burden.
My mother--all mothers--were never a burden. They were an inspiration to us all. And we all owe it to them to make sure that they live out their lives in the simple dignity of knowing they can't retire into poverty. That is the promise of Social Security. It hasn't kept pace. How could it if it hasn't been expanded in 51 years.
Now its solvency is in question and this bill expands its solvency. And, most importantly, it expands the benefits that are so vitally needed--especially, as Mr. Pascrell pointed out--to teachers, firefighters, police officers, and municipal employees, who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves on the short end of Congress' inaction. It is the fierce urgency of now.
When you go home and when you travel to a senior center, ask your constituents--and face them eyeball to eyeball and say: How can I help you?
They will respond: By fixing Social Security. By giving us a COLA that actually reflects the costs that we incur, that don't tax us while we still work because we have to make ends meet, to make sure that we are expanding benefits across the board for everyone--because it is everyone's program--and make sure that the wealthy pay their fair share.
That is what President Biden has called for. That is why it is a sacred trust. That is why we are proud to put this before us and say we are here to expand Social Security, not end this. Please, I beg of my colleagues on the other side, join us in expanding benefits that you know need to be expanded on behalf of the citizens you represent.
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