Social Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the Nation's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one antipoverty program for our children. That program, Mr. Speaker, as you know, is Social Security.

Mr. Speaker, and for the members in the gallery, I think it is important to understand the statistics that we are dealing with, most importantly, that there are now close to 70 million Americans who rely on Social Security, 40 percent of whom rely on a pension which is the only benefit that they have.

It is a testament to the genius of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What is required in an entrepreneurial capitalist system is that there be a safety net for people.

Even more so, imagine that 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social Security. It is disheartening that Congress, the institution primarily responsible for Social Security's enhancement and protection, has not done anything in 53 years. Richard Nixon was the President of the United States the last time Social Security was enhanced.

Five million of our fellow citizens get below poverty-level checks from Social Security, the greatest insurance program in the Nation's history, but Congress has not attended to the program. That is why this is so vitally important that we do so.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, in Idaho in the First District there are 219,000-plus Social Security recipients, 170,000-plus who are retirees, and 21,000 who get disability. There are 10,000-plus widows, 5,600 spouses, and 11,000 children in Idaho who rely on Social Security. It brings in $388 million monthly to the First District and has not been adjusted in more than 50 years. This is an outrage.

When Members learn of this and when the public is aware of this, they say: Why hasn't Congress acted?

President Biden has suggested, and it makes sense, that in this great Nation of ours, why shouldn't everybody pay the same?

So he said: Let's just simply lift the cap on people making over $400,000 who don't pay nearly the same that a person making $30,000, $50,000, $75,000, or $100,000 does who pay into the program.

In doing so, we would be able to enhance Social Security not only in Idaho but across the entire United States.

Even former President Trump now is apparently changing the Republican platform to say that we are going to protect Social Security.

It is not enough to protect Social Security. Congress hasn't done anything in more than 53 years. So that means whether you are in Idaho or whether you are in Connecticut, those very citizens, those 10,000-a- day baby boomers who expect their Congress to take action on their behalf, need to enhance a program that provides them with the benefits. That money goes directly into every congressional district and every congressional community.

Where do the citizens spend that money?

They spend it at the grocery store, at the pharmacy, and at the gas station. It goes to the essential needs that Americans require. That is why Social Security is the number one antipoverty program for the elderly and also the number one antipoverty program for children.

What Congress needs to do is not talk about it. It needs to vote. Citizens in the gallery and across this Nation should demand that the United States Congress vote on Social Security and correct something that has gone in disrepair for more than 50 years.

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