Social Security

Floor Speech

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise to defend Social Security. We've heard Social Security derided by certain extreme politicians lately claiming it can't survive, that it's unsustainable and that the beneficiaries who earned their retirement benefits need to face the hard truths. Well, here are some really hard truths about Social Security:

The average retirement benefit is merely $14,000 a year;

The median income of senior households is only $25,000 a year;

One in three seniors depend on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income.

The fact is that Social Security is a critical program for seniors across our country. It is a lifeline to half of all seniors who make under $25,000 a year.

This is a chart that shows the various income levels. Half of the people of our country who are seniors receive less than $25,000 a year on the program. It is even more important to the 25 percent of seniors who earn less than $15,000 a year. And for the nearly 4 million seniors who earn less than $10,000 a year, it is the difference between scraping by or having nothing at all. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Social Security keeps 20 million Americans out of poverty.

It is especially important for women. Women over the age of 80 are most likely to be living at or below the poverty level. Nearly a quarter of women in that age group are officially destitute. Pay attention to them. When you're at the supermarket and you see them looking at cases and they can't buy anything, give them $5. Social Security benefits millions of older women and helps keep them out of poverty.

What many people seem--or choose--to forget is that Social Security is an insurance program for retirement, for disability, and for survivorship. It is not designed to give you higher returns or beat the Standard & Poor's 500 or bolster your stock portfolio. It is not welfare. Social Security is an earned insurance benefit designed to give retirees, the disabled, and survivors stable, guaranteed benefits each month for the rest of their lives. It is financed by the taxes retirees paid into the system during their working years matched by their employer.

Born out of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt ensured the program would be financed by payroll deductions, matched by employers, so Americans would understand this insurance program is an earned benefit. This arrangement would guarantee, as he put it, that: no politician can ever scrap that Social Security program.

This is exactly why putting people back to work and creating jobs is the best long-term financing solution to ensure Social Security's long-term solvency. There are 14 million Americans out of work, and getting the unemployed back to work is the fastest way to inject billions of dollars back into the Social Security trust funds, stabilizing the program for generations to come.

With all of the misleading Republican rhetoric about Social Security being broken and a so-called ``lie,'' they claim, some have forgotten that the other side has always been opposed to the program.

In 1935, the Social Security Act made its way through the Ways and Means Committee but received not a single Republican vote on the committee. The ranking Republican said at that time that he would ``vote most strenuously in opposition to the bill at each and every opportunity.'' Republicans have opposed the program every step of the way.

In 1984, former Representative Dick Armey, now a Tea Party godfather, described Social Security as a ``bad retirement'' plan and a ``rotten trick'' on the American people. He said, ``I think we're going to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over a period of time.''

And then in 1987, former Representative Newt Gingrich said, ``While many politicians are still afraid to mention abolishing Social Security,'' he said, ``I am convinced this generation is ready for honest talk and real leadership.''

These are not retired politicians speaking. One is a leader in the Tea Party, and the other is a candidate for the Republican nomination for President.

Even today in our House, we have Members who still are beating the tired, failed horse that Social Security is unconstitutional.

But the numbers are clear. Half of all seniors live near or below the poverty line, and one in three seniors depends on Social Security for more than 90 percent of their income. What happens to these Americans if we start violating the program they depend on, frankly, for their lives?

Let me close with some comments from Americans in Ohio about Social Security. A woman from Toledo wrote: ``My retiree insurance was canceled last year. I had to get a plan to pay for my medicine. Even though I have part D, I still have to pay for my prescriptions because I'm in the doughnut hole. It costs me more than $700 a month. That's half my Social Security check.'' Her story is the story of millions of Americans across this country.

I urge my colleagues to stand with me to protect Social Security and its guaranteed secured benefits for all retired Americans. Our seniors have earned these benefits.

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