Social Security is An Earned Benefit

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the Nation's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one antipoverty program for children. That program is Social Security.

Yet, Mr. Speaker, as you know, Congress has not addressed or enhanced Social Security in more than 54 years. Richard Nixon was President of the United States the last time that Congress enhanced Social Security.

I am sure it is of interest to some of our listeners here today that Social Security is the number one insurance program for a Nation who relies on their government to make sure that it passes on savings to them that they have paid for. This is no entitlement. All one has to do is go to their pay stub where it says FICA, Federal insurance contribution. Whose money is that? It is your money.

Yet, Congress hasn't acted on it. However, we want to give that opportunity to everyone to act on it.

What is especially alarming, Mr. Speaker, is now Mr. Musk--an unelected official who operates outside of government, who doesn't need to be approved by the Senate, who is neither a Federal employee nor a volunteer, he has the ear of the President of the United States and can get all the statistics and data that he wants--is currently going after Social Security data.

I commend the Federal employees who have stood up to this illegal act and refused, in an effort to protect American citizens' valuable information and, most importantly, their privacy.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, you have 115,000 Social Security recipients in your district: 86,000 are retirees; 10,000 are disabled workers who rely on this money; 5,486 widows; 2,600 spouses; 8,613 children; and your district gets on a monthly basis $197 million.

Where do they spend that?

Right back in your district, Mr. Speaker.

Nobody gets wealthy on Social Security. It is the safety net for capitalism. That is what Roosevelt intended it to be. It is long overdue that we have a vote in the United States Congress to enhance Social Security benefits for all Americans.

There are 10,000 baby boomers who become eligible for Social Security every day. More than 70 million people receive Social Security, and now Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump are out to cut those benefits?

Ask your constituents where those cuts are going to come from, Mr. Speaker. Are they ready to say that cuts ought to be made to the money that they receive?

In something that was widely debunked last week, President Trump made the most outlandish claim that Social Security is contributing money to people who are supposedly 150 years old. That was widely debunked as false and untrue, but it is the kind of thing that is seen in dictatorships or at the start of fascism when people all of a sudden make outlandish claims that are untrue with regard to the Nation's number one insurance program for the elderly and our children, which Congress hasn't enhanced in more than 54 years.

The public ought to be demanding a vote of its Members. Do not let any Member of Congress stand up without saying where they stand on your benefits.

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