    [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 36 (Monday, February 24, 2025)]
    [House]
    [Page H736]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                      SOCIAL SECURITY IS AN EARNED BENEFIT

      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 to address the
    Nation's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number
    one antipoverty program for children. That program is Social Security.
      Yet, Mr. Speaker, as you know, Congress has not addressed or enhanced
    Social Security in more than 54 years. Richard Nixon was President of
    the United States the last time that Congress enhanced Social Security.
      I am sure it is of interest to some of our listeners here today that
    Social Security is the number one insurance program for a Nation who
    relies on their government to make sure that it passes on savings to
    them that they have paid for. This is no entitlement. All one has to do
    is go to their pay stub where it says FICA, Federal insurance
    contribution. Whose money is that? It is your money.
      Yet, Congress hasn't acted on it. However, we want to give that
    opportunity to everyone to act on it.
      What is especially alarming, Mr. Speaker, is now Mr. Musk--an
    unelected official who operates outside of government, who doesn't need
    to be approved by the Senate, who is neither a Federal employee nor a
    volunteer, he has the ear of the President of the United States and can
    get all the statistics and data that he wants--is currently going after
    Social Security data.
      I commend the Federal employees who have stood up to this illegal act
    and refused, in an effort to protect American citizens' valuable
    information and, most importantly, their privacy.
      Mr. Speaker, as you know, you have 115,000 Social Security recipients
    in your district: 86,000 are retirees; 10,000 are disabled workers who
    rely on this money; 5,486 widows; 2,600 spouses; 8,613 children; and
    your district gets on a monthly basis $197 million.
      Where do they spend that?
      Right back in your district, Mr. Speaker.
      Nobody gets wealthy on Social Security. It is the safety net for
    capitalism. That is what Roosevelt intended it to be. It is long
    overdue that we have a vote in the United States Congress to enhance
    Social Security benefits for all Americans.

                                  {time}  1230

      There are 10,000 baby boomers who become eligible for Social Security
    every day. More than 70 million people receive Social Security, and now
    Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump are out to cut those benefits?
      Ask your constituents where those cuts are going to come from, Mr.
    Speaker. Are they ready to say that cuts ought to be made to the money
    that they receive?
      In something that was widely debunked last week, President Trump made
    the most outlandish claim that Social Security is contributing money to
    people who are supposedly 150 years old. That was widely debunked as
    false and untrue, but it is the kind of thing that is seen in
    dictatorships or at the start of fascism when people all of a sudden
    make outlandish claims that are untrue with regard to the Nation's
    number one insurance program for the elderly and our children, which
    Congress hasn't enhanced in more than 54 years.
      The public ought to be demanding a vote of its Members. Do not let
    any Member of Congress stand up without saying where they stand on your
    benefits.

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