The Nation's Number One Insurance Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I am here this morning, and I rise to speak and address the Nation's number one insurance program: Social Security.

Mr. Speaker, it might surprise you that on average, there are about 150,000 Social Security recipients per district. What is equally shocking, however, is that Congress has done nothing in more than 50 years to comprehensively address Social Security, the Nation's number one antipoverty program for seniors and also for individuals.

I know we will have another Speaker, but in the gentleman's district alone, there are over 175,000 recipients. Social Security brings in a monthly amount of almost $200 million. That makes it the best economic development program in the Nation with everyone receiving those benefits.

Yet, Congress hasn't acted, Mr. Speaker, since Richard Nixon was President of the United States. That was back in 1971. Now, some will say: Wait a minute, didn't we just recently pass something for teachers and firefighters and police officers and municipal employees? Yes, we did. We did pass that, but we did not enhance it because we didn't pay for it. In essence what that does, being unpaid for, is further hurt the Social Security program by about $98 billion.

President Trump has got a proposal. His proposal is to do away with taxes for people on Social Security. We have had that proposal in a bill for more than 10 years. The difference is we pay for it so that the trust fund stays intact, Mr. Speaker. The President does not, so what that would mean is if it were to pass unpaid for, that by 2030, there would be a 36 percent hit on everyone's Social Security.

In other words, 2 years after President Trump is out of office, the Social Security fund would be hurt by 36 percent. What does that mean? To the listeners out there and to you, Mr. Speaker, what it means is that is a 36 percent cut in their benefits.

The average benefit for Social Security for a male is $18,000 and for a female, it is $14,000. In 2030, do you think they could stand a 36 percent cut for that? The last time Congress enhanced Social Security for its constituents was 1971.

Now, some might say: No, wait a minute, in 1983 didn't Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan enhance Social Security? Yes, they did. They worked out a deal.

Mr. Speaker, they worked out a deal to prolong the length of Social Security. They did so by raising the age, which sounds logical, doesn't it, until you realize that for every year you raise the age, that is a 7 percent cut in benefits.

Proposals by the Republican Study Committee to raise the age to 70, for all of the C-SPAN viewers and listeners out there, that would mean a 21 percent cut in their benefits. As I said, that Social Security pension benefit for 40 percent of Americans is the only thing that they have.

That is why this Congress has to take action and do something constructive for all Social Security recipients. As has been expressed by President Biden, there is a pretty simple solution staring us right in the face. Everybody ought to pay into Social Security. Billionaires and millionaires shouldn't be exempt from paying into Social Security. Some pay nothing. Others are done paying by January 1. Working-class America has to pay throughout. Vote for Social Security.

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