Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, a little while ago, my colleagues were successful in passing the Stop International Child Abuse Act by unanimous consent.

I want to thank Paris Hilton for her great work on this legislation. You know, I applaud her for using her position of influence as a force for good. She has worked hard to make sure no child has to go through what she went through in her earlier life.

America's kids and young adults will decide the future of this country. I dedicated my life to mentoring young people because they are the most precious commodity that we have. If we get everything else right but neglect our young people, our country has no future.

You know, I have seen some of these residential treatment facilities with my own eyes, and I know they need reform. Right now, there is not enough oversight in some of these schools. Some States are trying to regulate them, but we need to do more on a national level. We don't know where the Federal money is going or who is making money off looking after our kids. We don't understand the regulations and whether they benefit our children or not. This bill authorizes a study of these facilities and looks at them nationwide. It can cost about what it takes to go to Harvard for a kid to be in one of these institutions. It is very expensive, but a lot of them look like something out of a Charles Dickens movie.

There is an old saying that sunlight is the best disinfectant. We need some more sunlight on these facilities so we can put a stop to the waste and the fraud and the abuse in this system. I am proud to support this bill, and I stand with our kids. Social Security

Madam President, now I would like to remind you of a vote that President Joe Biden took in 1983, as a Senator, to tax your Social Security. That is right. Joe Biden is responsible for your Social Security money today being taxed. It is a scam.

One of the big reasons the American people elected President Trump to be the next President of the United States is because they are tired of being scammed by the Federal Government. They are tired of seeing their hard-earned money evaporate into thin air because of inflation, which is caused by Joe Biden and Democrats spending money that we don't have.

They are tired of having their tax dollars sent to fund foreign wars where America's interests are really not at stake. They are tired of the Federal Government using taxpayer dollars to put illegal immigrants up in fancy hotels instead of building a wall to secure our Nation's sovereignty. But what the American people have been tired of for years--decades even--is how they have been getting scammed out of their retirement money, the money that they pay into this government.

Here is the sad truth: The American people don't have any confidence that they will see all the money they paid into Social Security over the years.

Since being signed into law in the 1930s by President Roosevelt, Americans' money has been going in the front door of the Federal Government and then out the back door. It is a big Ponzi scheme, and everyone is forced to participate in it. You have no choice. It doesn't matter if you are 16 or 76, a little over 6 percent of your paycheck is taken out to pay for this retirement.

Americans have been paying into Social Security for years, only to see a fraction of what they were promised to be returned to them. And that is not all. After decades of having Social Security taken out of their paychecks, millions of Americans have to pay taxes on what they do get at the end of the day. That is right. The money that is owed to them--the taxpayers' own money that has been held for years by the Federal Government--is taxed again as if it is new income.

Withdrawing money from your paycheck every week or month for Social Security is already a tax to begin with. The money taken out of your pocket and your paychecks isn't put into an account that gains interest like a mutual fund. It doesn't even gain interest like a savings account. It actually has a lower rate of interest than the rate of inflation. And that is not the worst of it.

The pot your Social Security money sits in isn't left alone by the Federal Government. No, your money that you pay into Social Security is being used like a debit card by the Federal Government. So the money you are paying into, it is effectively a tax. Then what little money you do get back is taxed again.

We have got people who are getting ready to retire in this country who are going to try to live off $2,000 a month after paying Social Security all their life.

In this day and age, $2,000 is impossible to live off of, totally impossible. We better start figuring this problem out because one of these days, millions of people are going to come to DC and say: Where is my money? And I don't blame them. I don't blame them one bit.

We are $36 trillion in debt, and there is no sign of that slowing down. Let me repeat that: $36 trillion in debt.

We seem to be spending all we can on everything but retired American workers. We have sent over $200 billion to Ukraine. Just yesterday, the Biden administration announced they are giving $20 billion more to Ukraine in the form of a loan. Well, that is interesting. We are never getting that money back. It is another scam.

Over $400 billion in COVID relief money was wasted, misspent, or stolen. And I just saw on TV before I just came down here on a news report that President Biden just gave Iran 10 billion more dollars.

The Biden administration set aside billions of dollars to build EV stations across this country, plug-ins. Up here, we toss money around like it is nothing, and then we turn around and tax Americans' Social Security checks. It is unfair for the millions of Americans who paid into Social Security to have to suffer for their government's incompetence.

My two sons ask me all the time if they are ever going to see the money they have paid into Social Security. At this rate, they have got a better chance of seeing world war III than ever seeing that 6 percent that was taken out of their paychecks since they started working. How bleak is that?

That is why when President Trump says he wants to fight for Social Security to protect it and preserve the retirement age, it resonates with people. People listen because it sounds like somebody is going to help somebody.

The American people aren't dumb. They know there has been funny business going on at the Social Security Administration for many, many years and that they may never see a dime of the money that they are owed.

Americans aren't dumb. Every election year, you hear our Democratic colleagues saying Republicans want to cut Social Security benefits or raise the retirement age. Yet it was Joe Biden who voted to tax your Social Security check. As usual, our Democratic colleagues just keep throwing money at other programs, projects, and wars, neglecting one of the biggest problems facing our country.

With President Trump coming to town, we are finally going to make sure the government is serving the people, not bleeding them dry. President Trump is going to make sure the government is accountable to all American taxpayers. At the very least, he is going to give it to you straight, not just tell you what you want to hear.

The Department of Government Efficiency--or what we are calling now DOGE--will play a big role in solving this problem. Elon and Vivek will make sure the American people know exactly what is going on in Washington. There will be no secrets.

The bottom line is this: We need to get bureaucrats' and politicians' hands out of the mess that they made with their Social Security money. We need to make sure Americans get what they were promised.

President Trump's pick to be the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration is a great choice to get Social Security cleaned up. If he doesn't, we will change him. Frank has an excellent track record as an executive in business and finance. He is not a politician. As President Trump said, Commissioner Frank will deliver on the Agency's commitment to the American people for generations to come.

It is about time Washington, DC, starts working for the people we are supposed to represent--what a thought--not to special interests, not for career politicians and entrenched bureaucrats or the liberal pet projects or foreign wars that don't deserve our interest.

Instead of spending money we don't have on things we don't need, let's put it back in the pockets of the Americans who have worked and paid for this. Not only is it in America's best interest to do this, it is the right thing to do.

(Ms. ROSEN assumed the Chair.)

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