Social Security is Under Siege

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to talk about America's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one antipoverty program for children. That program is Social Security, our Nation's number one insurance plan. Currently, it is under siege.

Both Senator Wyden and President Biden have, I think rightly, said that what this amounts to is a buzzword for cuts to Social Security: a fiscal commission that is designed to have backroom meetings without hearings, unamendable, yet bring to both floors of the House and Senate an up-or-down vote.

This is put together by 16 people--4 who have no vote, 6 from the Senate, and 6 from the House--with only 7 votes required to pass a bill that goes directly to the floor for a vote. That is an abomination and dereliction of duty on behalf of the House and the Senate. I strongly oppose it.

It has been 53 years since Congress has enhanced Social Security. These are your brothers, sisters, family members, neighbors, and the people you go to church with. This money comes directly back to every single congressional district and your community, and it goes to help people.

The average Social Security check is $18,000 for a male and $14,000 for a female. There are 5 million of our fellow Americans who get below-poverty-level checks from the government because Congress hasn't taken responsibility.

We have a plan to change that. We put our plan out on the floor.

Mr. Speaker, contrast that with a behind-closed-door study. How about we do something for the American people like vote, vote on something that is essential to their livelihood?

As you know, Mr. Speaker, Social Security isn't just a pension plan. More veterans rely on Social Security disability than they do on the VA, and spousal and dependent coverage, as well, that we are providing.

Even President Trump has gone so far as to criticize Nikki Haley, and say, hey, listen, this idea of raising the age, which the Republican Study Committee calls for, is cutting benefits in Social Security. You listen to Donald Trump on everything else. Let us hope that you understand what he is talking about here in terms of gutting Social Security and causing across-the-board cuts to a vital program that every single American needs.

Mr. Speaker, there are also more than 28 million Americans who the only benefit that they have in retirement will be Social Security. It is an outrage that this body, in the House and the Senate, has not taken up Social Security both to improve its solvency and also to enhance its benefits.

We have a program that does that--a 2 percent across-the-board increase for everyone. It lifts 5 million Americans out of poverty who have paid into a system all their lives and get below-poverty-level checks from the government because of Congress' inaction.

It repeals WEP and GPO for teachers, firefighters, and municipal employees. It will provide a tax break for more than 23 million Americans. It does so by simply lifting the cap on people over $400,000.

What does that do? It pays for all of these benefits and also extends solvency well into the future.

That is what we should be doing as a body. We don't need to study Social Security. We know what this program does.

If my colleagues can honestly go home and look any fellow citizen in the eye and tell them that we don't need to improve Social Security, that we need to study it, God bless them.

What we need here is a vote on Social Security 2100 to make sure that we are enhancing benefits for the citizens we are sworn to serve.

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