[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 20, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H11483-H11484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONGRESS NEEDS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE FOR SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, my colleagues, yesterday I 
had the privilege to be in the heart of my district in Waterbury, 
Connecticut, to meet with a group of seniors, very concerned and active 
seniors. They call themselves the Silver Waves. And

[[Page H11484]]

through letters and phone calls and emails and thousands of one-on-one 
conversations throughout the greater Waterbury area, they have been 
able to gather over 300 signatures on the petition that I am holding 
right here expressing why they believe that this Congress has to start 
paying attention to the very real economic pressures that seniors in 
this economy and in this country are facing and why, in particular, we 
need to step up to the plate and do the right thing for seniors who are 
about to face a zero percent increase on Social Security in this 
country.

                              {time}  1930

  Madam Speaker, I'm here to bring these petitions to my colleagues 
because I couldn't agree with them more.
  This economic downturn has hit all of us, but it has hit seniors in 
particular. Just like many Americans, they have mortgages to pay, 
they've got car payments to make, and they've got grocery bills to pay. 
But unlike many Americans, they also face disproportionately high 
health care costs, unusually high prescription-drug costs, and multiple 
bills that seem only to be rising. Put that together with decreased 
retirement funds, and seniors are facing a particularly tough forecast.
  Now over the past year, this Congress has tried to take some steps to 
pull this economy up from the depths of the recession. We've acted to 
make sure that our financial system didn't collapse. We've moved 
quickly to make critical investments in our economy to help it recover. 
We're working now to try to make this health care system work for both 
our customers, our patients and also for our economy. But in all of 
this, we have to remember that seniors throughout this country face 
economic challenges that are unique only to them, and as we continue to 
work on getting our entire economy to recover, we have to remember that 
we have to specifically target seniors, most of which are living on 
fixed incomes today.
  Now the impetus behind these petitions is a very real sense from the 
senior citizens in my district, which I think is reflective of a 
feeling across this country, that over the past decade or so, they've 
watched Washington dole out special favors to the insurance companies, 
to the drug companies, to the oil companies and to the banks. And 
they're wondering where the help is for them. And in the middle of this 
tough economic recession, just when they're waiting for the help to 
come to them, they get some of the worst news of all, that they will be 
receiving a zero percent increase in their Social Security check.
  Now that's why we need to listen to the people who have signed these 
petitions, because this number is 3,000 in Waterbury, Connecticut, but 
it would be millions across the country of seniors who want to know why 
a formula designed to reflect the true cost of living increases for 
them gives them a zero percent increase when they know that their costs 
are increasing on a regular basis, and why they can't get Congress to 
step up to the plate and help them when it seems like over the past 
decade, a lot of other people with a lot more influence and a lot more 
power than them have been helped.
  So I'm here to deliver these petitions and to say ``thank you'' to 
people like Lucille Keating, Jeannine Laliberte, Lorraine Johnston and 
Lida Keroski, who put these together, and assure them not only do I 
agree with the sentiment they and so many Americans have brought to 
this House, but that I believe we are going to take seriously the 
notion that in this very difficult economy we need to step up to the 
plate and do the right thing for seniors in this country.

                          ____________________