The State of Social Security
Floor Speech
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about America's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and America's number one antipoverty program for children. That, of course, is Social Security.
I want to commend President Biden. I commend him for putting forward the concept of making sure that Social Security is solvent into the next century and making sure that we expand benefits. He did so by saying we do something that is very common sense and practical: We lift the cap on people making over $400,000.
Most citizens probably don't realize that there is even a cap on Social Security.
Be that as it may, why is it that all individuals shouldn't have to pay into this system?
We have a poster here. God bless these wealthy individuals who are able to achieve great success and make vast sums of money, but why should a person making $30,000, $50,000, $75,000, or $100,000 pay throughout the year for their Social Security when these wealthy individuals will pay about 1 minute into the beginning of the year? Just last month was the last time that millionaires would pay anything into the system.
President Biden has said: Let's scrap the cap on people earning over $400,000.
I have had many townhalls where I ask people in the audience to raise their hand if they are making over $400,000. So far, I haven't seen a single hand go up.
Yet, they are exempt from participating in what is the Nation's number one insurance program for the elderly and also for children.
By the way, especially in this time of deficit talk, et cetera, it is completely paid for. This is a real kitchen-table issue because 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social Security, and they are sitting there asking: Well, why is it that Social Security hasn't been enhanced?
It is because the only body that can do that is the United States Congress, and it hasn't done anything since 1971 to enhance the program, Mr. Speaker, and to make sure that people are paying their fair share.
The fair thing to do here is to scrap the cap, which would extend solvency of Social Security instead of having a limit. It would also be able to provide benefits to people, including a COLA, that actually work on behalf of our senior citizens. It would include an across-the- board increase for everyone on Social Security since it hasn't been increased since 1971, and it would make sure that people who are currently paying taxes on their Social Security don't have to do so.
How are we able to do that? By having people pay their fair share, people who don't pay, in many instances, a penny into FICA. That is flatout wrong for the wealthiest nation in the world that has provided the benefits, freedoms, and liberty that has allowed these very successful people to succeed in the greatest country in the world.
It is time for us, Mr. Speaker, to come together and address this for all Americans as we seek to close the wealth gap that exists in this country.
For more than 40 percent, Mr. Speaker, of our fellow citizens, Social Security is the only benefit that they have. It is the only benefit that they have, and for these individuals to be exempt from having to pay into that system is absolutely wrong and unjust.
That is why, again, I commend President Biden for standing up for all Americans and saying that we are going to scrap the cap. We are going to lift that cap on people making over $400,000. It won't even be anything for them to do this.
What it will do is provide us the opportunity to expand Social Security, to make sure that Social Security now goes into effect by eliminating WEP and GPO that has wrongly penalized teachers, firefighters, police officers, their spouses, and their families from receiving the very Social Security benefits they deserve.
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