[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 27, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ENHANCING SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I am here this morning to 
talk about Social Security. I start with commending Chairman Neal of 
the Ways and Means Committee, and especially for his formation of the 
Racial Equity Committee that was headed up by one of the previous 
speakers, Terri Sewell, and   Steven Horsford, and   Jimmy Gomez.
  Our great colleague, John Lewis, said that Social Security would be 
the next civil rights movement. John had probably no idea about what 
the pandemic would bring. What the pandemic has done has underscored 
the plight and the need of all of our fellow Americans.
  What I mean by that is this: This pandemic has hit the country hard. 
It is turning everybody's lives upside down. There are close to a 
million people in our country that have perished during this pandemic 
because of COVID-19; but 740,000 plus are over the age of 65.
  In that same group over the age of 65 are, of course, the recipients 
of Social Security. Those recipients also are the people who are on a 
fixed income. People on a fixed income are hurt the hardest by the 
inflationary times that we are in.
  That is why we have proposed Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust, 
that is currently in the process of being marked up in the Ways and 
Means Committee. It is being marked up so that we can address what 
Martin Luther King best described as the fierce urgency of now.
  What is that fierce urgency? For every Member of this body to go home 
and look at your brothers and sisters, their coworkers, the people you 
go to church and worship with, and understand that it has been more 
than 50 years since Congress enhanced any benefit in Social Security.
  A gallon of milk was 71 cents back in 1971. Look at the cost of milk. 
Look at the cost of gas. Look at the cost of heating and cooling your 
home. Look at the cost of groceries and prescription drugs.
  And for Congress to be negligent and not address this issue--this is 
not something, Madam Speaker, that can be done through executive order, 
nor is the Supreme Court going to adjudicate. This is the direct 
responsibility of the United States Congress, and the last time it did 
something was in 1983. Ronald Reagan was the President. Bob Dole was 
the Senate leader, and Tip O'Neill, the Speaker. They made the program 
more solvent then, but they did it by cutting benefits; the last of 
which just went into effect this January, with raising the age to 67.

  Now, it sounds good when you say, well, people are living longer so 
we have got to raise the age. But consider the logic: If you are living 
longer, how is it that you can sustain a cut in Social Security?
  It hasn't been enhanced in more than 51 years. It is Congress' 
responsibility. Ten thousand baby boomers a day become eligible for 
Social Security. It affects our rural communities more than it affects 
our urban communities. And in doing so, who has it impacted? Close to 5 
million of our fellow Americans who get below-poverty-level checks from 
the Federal Government at a time we are passing out tax cuts to the 
wealthiest 1 percent in this country.
  If, indeed, Black lives matter and is more than just a slogan, we 
will be voting on this issue on this floor to send a message to the 
more than 65 million Social Security recipients that help is on the 
way. No one will ever work all their lives and then retire into poverty 
because we are going to create a new floor that will be 125 percent of 
what the poverty level is.
  Madam Speaker, I urge the body to take a look at Social Security 
2100: A Sacred Trust. This is bipartisan. If you look at the data, 80 
percent of Democrats, 75 percent of Independents, 69 percent of 
Republicans agree that these benefits need to be enhanced. It is a 
commonsense, practical way in this pandemic to both deal with inflation 
and give long-overdue relief to our senior citizens.
  Social Security is the number one anti-poverty program for the 
elderly. It is the number one anti-poverty program for children. Our 
veterans utilize Social Security disability more than the VA.
  It is long overdue for this body to do one simple requirement that we 
all take an oath of office for, and that is to vote, and vote on 
increasing and enhancing Social Security and its benefits, something 
that hasn't been done in this body for more than 50 years.

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