[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 26, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H7078-H7079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PROTECTING 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 rise to address the body 
on Social Security.
  Madam Speaker, as we speak, we are at war. We are at war with a 
global pandemic, a global pandemic that has swept across many nations, 
including our own, where we have now lost more than a million people. 
Madam Speaker, 756,000-plus are over the age of 65.

                              {time}  1230

  Madam Speaker, these are also the individuals who are most dependent 
during these times because they are on a fixed income and are most 
impacted by inflation.
  Madam Speaker, this war will continue because there is another wave 
of omicron coming our way called BA.2.75 that will land here sometime 
in the fall and all the more reason that we have a plan to address 
this. Our plan is to make sure that we assist our seniors who are most 
in need. So we reach out to our colleagues on the other side and ask 
them to join us in expanding Social Security benefits. Congress, that 
has the sole responsibility to do this, hasn't done it in 51 years.
  Madam Speaker, when you go back home to your district in which on 
average 145,000 people in your district are on Social Security, they 
need our help now. It is what Martin Luther King called the fierce 
urgency of now: now because we are in the midst of COVID, now because 
there is another more deadly wave on its way and the groups impacted 
the most are our senior citizens and our veterans. As everyone knows, 
Social Security not only is a pension plan, it is spousal and dependent 
coverage, and more veterans rely on Social Security than they do on the 
VA, and they are in need of our help.
  Congress as an institution hasn't acted in 51 years to enhance a 
program. Madam Speaker, as you know, a gallon of milk cost 72 cents in 
1971, and Richard Nixon was President of the United States. That is how 
long it has been since Congress has acted. We can no longer kick the 
can down the road. We are at war. We are at war with a virus that is 
attacking our people. They need our help, and they need our response. 
During war, we come together as a body and we roll up our sleeves.
  We have a plan that will extend those benefits. Republicans have put 
forward three concepts and ideas. One is the Republican Study plan that 
cuts Social Security across the board by 21 percent with the idea that 
people are living longer so we should boost the age. For every year you 
raise the age, that is a 7 percent cut. The plan here says you have a 
new plan that says you work until you die, for God's sake. This cannot 
stand.
  Senator Scott has proposed a plan for Social Security that ends it in 
5 years, and Mr. Biggs, before our committee, testified that Social 
Security ought to be privatized.
  We say: None of the above.
  Join us in expanding benefits to people who need them the most and to 
people who are impacted the most. These are your brothers, your 
sisters, your mothers and fathers, your aunts and uncles, the people 
you worship with, and your coworkers. That is who Social Security 
impacts, more than 65 million Americans currently, and with 10,000 baby 
boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security the time to act is 
now. We cannot kick this can down the road.
  We have a markup pending in the Ways and Means Committee to get this 
bill to the floor, and the sooner we vote on it the better. This is 
something where Democrats and Republicans should join together. Social 
Security is the most efficient and effective government program. It is 
run with under 1 percent administrative cost. I come from the insurance 
capital of the world. Any insurance company would love to have a 99 
percent loss ratio.

[[Page H7079]]

  Madam Speaker, come together and join us to protect Social Security.

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