[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          PROPOSAL TO CUT DEATH BENEFIT UNDER SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I was amazed a few minutes ago to have the 
Office of Management and Budget Director tell me in a committee hearing 
that the administration is eliminating the $255 death benefit available 
to widows and widowers under Social Security as a part of its great 
budget savings; justified, he told me, because that death benefit is 
anachronistic, to use his term.
  Well, as far as I know, death is still occurring across America. 
There are poor widows and widowers for whom $255 is an important 
contribution toward the cost of a burial. The fault has been in not 
keeping that $255 benefit with the purchasing power it had for a widow 
or widower in the 1950s.
  A benefit that goes back to 1939 under Social Security is one of the 
benefits that the President and this Republican Congress in their 
budget propose now to eliminate. It is wrong and I hope this House will 
reject this unfortunate move.

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