[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 130 (Thursday, July 27, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H4038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, but first, 
before I begin, I want to associate myself with the remarks of Reverend 
Green. It is always great to be in the presence of someone who has 
performed so extraordinarily well and is indeed a great American. I 
congratulate, Joyce.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the 88th birthday of Social 
Security, which will take place on August 14. We are calling upon 
Members all across this Nation joined by great groups like the National 
Committee to Preserve and Protect Social Security, Social Security 
Works, the AFL-CIO, and the list goes on, to please save the date as a 
date of action. It is a date of action because Congress hasn't taken 
any action.
  It might interest people in the gallery to know that Congress hasn't 
done anything to enhance Social Security in more than 52 years.
  We found ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, a pandemic that in 
this country has impacted people over the age of 65 more severely than 
any other group. Slightly over a million people have perished. Over 
856,000 were over the age of 65.
  Those same individuals are the ones that because of global inflation 
have found themselves in the situation, as people on fixed incomes 
often do, where they are most severely hurt.
  As Reverend King would say, ``the fierce urgency of now'' is upon the 
United States Congress.
  What are we asking the United States Congress to do?
  Vote.
  How hard is that?
  Whether it is in the United States Senate or whether it is in the 
House of Representatives, everybody claims how much they respect and 
love and admire Social Security. If that is true, then why don't we 
vote on it?
  It hasn't been enhanced in 52 years. The last time something was done 
was in 1983. Ronald Reagan was President, Bob Dole ran the United 
States Senate, and Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House. They extended 
Social Security at that time, its solvency, but they didn't do anything 
to enhance the program.
  I dare say that things have changed a lot since Richard Nixon was 
President in terms of the cost of procuring goods and services in this 
country, and yet we have not done anything as a Congress to enhance the 
benefit of the more than 66 million people who are on Social Security. 
That number will exceed 70 million within a year and a half. Mr. 
Speaker, that is 70 million of our fellow Americans.
  Here is the real deal: 5 million of them get below-poverty level 
checks from the government. After having worked all their lives, paid 
into a system to get an earned benefit, they find themselves getting a 
below-poverty level check because the United States Congress has not 
acted on their behalf.
  Mr. Speaker, 23 million of our fellow Americans get taxed on their 
work in their job for what they are doing, and they shouldn't be. That 
tax should be eliminated. There needs to be an across-the-board 
increase for all Social Security recipients.

                              {time}  1030

  That is why we call attention to this day of action.
  The day of action that is needed most, though, is by the United 
States Congress and for us to act in a bipartisan manner across the 
board and make sure that the people are getting the benefits that they 
have richly earned.
  Mr. Speaker, 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social 
Security, and still Congress does not act. America needs to rise up and 
prevail upon their Members of Congress to act, and by act, I mean 
vote--vote to bring Social Security 2100 to the floor for a vote and 
vote in the Senate to bring those bills forward.
  Mr. Speaker, if you have a better idea, if you have a better plan, 
then lay it out there for the public to see, but for God's sake, vote 
on it for the sake of the American people.
  The American people deserve more from their Congress than lip 
service. They need action.

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