[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 20 (Monday, February 5, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H391-H392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SOCIAL SECURITY IS UNDER SIEGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to 
talk about America's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and 
the number one antipoverty program for children. That program is Social 
Security, our Nation's number one insurance plan. Currently, it is 
under siege.
  Both Senator Wyden and President Biden have, I think rightly, said 
that what this amounts to is a buzzword for cuts to Social Security: a 
fiscal commission that is designed to have backroom meetings without 
hearings, unamendable, yet bring to both floors of the House and Senate 
an up-or-down vote.

[[Page H392]]

  This is put together by 16 people--4 who have no vote, 6 from the 
Senate, and 6 from the House--with only 7 votes required to pass a bill 
that goes directly to the floor for a vote. That is an abomination and 
dereliction of duty on behalf of the House and the Senate. I strongly 
oppose it.
  It has been 53 years since Congress has enhanced Social Security. 
These are your brothers, sisters, family members, neighbors, and the 
people you go to church with. This money comes directly back to every 
single congressional district and your community, and it goes to help 
people.

  The average Social Security check is $18,000 for a male and $14,000 
for a female. There are 5 million of our fellow Americans who get 
below-poverty-level checks from the government because Congress hasn't 
taken responsibility.
  We have a plan to change that. We put our plan out on the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, contrast that with a behind-closed-door study. How about 
we do something for the American people like vote, vote on something 
that is essential to their livelihood?
  As you know, Mr. Speaker, Social Security isn't just a pension plan. 
More veterans rely on Social Security disability than they do on the 
VA, and spousal and dependent coverage, as well, that we are providing.
  Even President Trump has gone so far as to criticize Nikki Haley, and 
say, hey, listen, this idea of raising the age, which the Republican 
Study Committee calls for, is cutting benefits in Social Security. You 
listen to Donald Trump on everything else. Let us hope that you 
understand what he is talking about here in terms of gutting Social 
Security and causing across-the-board cuts to a vital program that 
every single American needs.
  Mr. Speaker, there are also more than 28 million Americans who the 
only benefit that they have in retirement will be Social Security. It 
is an outrage that this body, in the House and the Senate, has not 
taken up Social Security both to improve its solvency and also to 
enhance its benefits.
  We have a program that does that--a 2 percent across-the-board 
increase for everyone. It lifts 5 million Americans out of poverty who 
have paid into a system all their lives and get below-poverty-level 
checks from the government because of Congress' inaction.
  It repeals WEP and GPO for teachers, firefighters, and municipal 
employees. It will provide a tax break for more than 23 million 
Americans. It does so by simply lifting the cap on people over 
$400,000.
  What does that do? It pays for all of these benefits and also extends 
solvency well into the future.
  That is what we should be doing as a body. We don't need to study 
Social Security. We know what this program does.
  If my colleagues can honestly go home and look any fellow citizen in 
the eye and tell them that we don't need to improve Social Security, 
that we need to study it, God bless them.
  What we need here is a vote on Social Security 2100 to make sure that 
we are enhancing benefits for the citizens we are sworn to serve.

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