Connecticut is World's Basketball Capital

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise with an enormous sense of pride today. April 9 is my mother Pauline Nolan Larson's birthday. She would be 99 today, and I am sure she is smiling down on this magnificent day when we also celebrate Connecticut being the basketball capital of the world with Connecticut's UConn Huskies now winning back- to-back national championships and both the men and women going to the Final Four.

I won't go into the call on Friday night, but I will just say that Geno Auriemma and the women's team were outstanding, and Dan Hurley and the men's basketball team deserve all the credit in the world.

When you see Joe Courtney on the floor, Mr. Speaker, recognize his district in Storrs, Connecticut, as the basketball capital of the world.

I especially commend Dan Hurley for the shout-out he gave to all the former players and former coaches, from Dee Rowe to Dom Perno and Kevin Ollie, and, of course, the house that Jim Calhoun built, bringing those initial championships to Connecticut, and nobody has won more basketball championships than Geno Auriemma and the women's team, as well.

Connecticut rightfully deserves that. We are so proud of everything that they have done, and we commend and congratulate them. Enhance Social Security

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I am also here to discuss Social Security.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, more than 70 million Americans are on Social Security and receive it. Yet, Congress, Mr. Speaker, has not acted since 1971 to enhance and improve anything about Social Security.

For the people in our audience today, they have to be scratching their heads and saying: What is this? Why is it that for 40 percent of all people on Social Security, it is the only pension benefit that they have, and every day 10,000 fellow Americans become eligible for Social Security, but Congress has not voted to enhance Social Security in more than 50 years?

It is long overdue. We have a proposal not to cut Social Security and not to raise the age. For every year you raise the age for Social Security, Mr. Speaker, that is a 7 percent cut in benefits.

Does it make any sense to say people are living longer, so we ought to raise the age so they can receive less the older they get? That makes no sense.

It is long overdue for Congress to take the steps and do what it should do. All the American people are asking is that we vote on their interest to increase Social Security, which hasn't been done since 1971.

We need to make sure that teachers, firefighters, and police officers see that WEP and GPO is repealed and paid for, that they get the benefits that they have been denied, and to make sure that people who are working currently and receiving Social Security don't pay tax on that Social Security.

Those are the things that we need to do to improve this program, which is the number one insurance program in the country. It is the number one program that prevents both the elderly from being impoverished and children from being impoverished.

Only in Congress do people sit here day after day and not take up the most important thing they can do on behalf of the American people to improve their lot in life.

As important as basketball championships are, Americans are having kitchen table discussion about: ``What are we going to do, honey? Why hasn't Congress voted to make sure that we get a cost-of-living increase that actually reflects the cost of things today that we have to account for?''

Mr. Speaker, 1971, when Richard Nixon was President of the United States, was the last time that Congress voted to enhance the Nation's number one insurance program. It is long overdue that Congress step up and make sure that we take these votes that will help every single American.

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