Social Security

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address and speak about the Nation's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one antipoverty program for children, and the program that more veterans rely on for disability than the VA. Of course, I am talking about Social Security.

What the public doesn't know, but should, is that Congress hasn't acted to enhance Social Security since 1971. That is 53 years. A lot has transpired and happened over 53 years, and with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security, it is long overdue that Congress acts.

We have a proposal. Our proposal is called Social Security 2100, and this is exactly what it does. It makes sure that no one can retire into poverty. We have over 5 million Americans who have paid into Social Security and get below-poverty-level checks.

Nobody gets wealthy on Social Security. The average is $18,000 per male and $14,000 per female. As I said, 5 million of our fellow citizens are getting below-poverty-level checks on a commitment they made to their government to get the insurance.

That is what we are talking about here. It is insurance. Social Security also is one of the most efficient government programs. Its administrative costs are under 1 percent. There is no other agency that does that and services over 70 million people.

I would also like to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that Social Security is important because it impacts your district directly.

Mr. Speaker, for example, you have 134,536 recipients: 95,000-plus are retirees; 15,000 are disabled; 8,756 are widows; and 9,942 are children. That is not the most critical thing though. The critical thing is: How much money comes into your district on a monthly basis?

In California's 23rd District, it is $213 million a month, and that hasn't been adjusted since 1971.

What do these people do with this money when they get it?

They spend it right back in their district at the local grocery store, at the local pharmacy, to pay for their heating and cooling, to put gas in their automobiles. It, therefore, is a direct economic development plan for the people in this Nation who need it the most.

For more than 40 percent of Americans, Social Security is the only benefit they have. They don't have benefits like the Federal Government has or like the United States Congress has. All they have is that very simple policy and a commitment from their government that they would make it actuarially sound. Instead, what they get is doubt and fear and the fact that the trust fund will be cut 20 percent now by 2033 if Congress continues to do nothing.

It is long overdue.

Why is it, citizens must ask, that Congress can't come together to take care of the very citizens whom they are sworn to serve on an insurance plan that is the most efficient in government operating under at 1 percent administrative cost.

Mr. Speaker, you can't find another agency in the private sector, and I hail from an insurance capital, to administer insurances anywhere from 15 to 26 percent. In government they do it for under 1.

Act, Congress.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source