[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 25, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H1228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ENHANCING SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. Larson of Connecticut was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be here.
  This morning, I rise to talk about social security, the Nation's 
number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one 
antipoverty program for children.
  Mr. Speaker, I know it comes as no surprise to you that Social 
Security has not been enhanced since 1971. Richard Nixon was President 
of the United States then. Congress has done nothing to improve the 
situation of so many people who desperately need it.
  There are more than 70 million Social Security recipients in the 
United States, and 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social 
Security. Yet, Elon Musk is setting about to dismantle the Social 
Security Administration by cutting regional offices. Whether it is 
Illinois or Connecticut, we need these regional offices.
  He is cutting off the phone services, getting rid of the inspectors 
general, doing so to the program that is most effectively administrated 
in the Federal Government. No other agency, public or private, provides 
insurance for more than 70 million people with administrative costs 
that are under 1 percent. It delivers and has never missed a payment, 
not a pension payment, not a disability payment, not a spousal payment, 
not a dependent child payment.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, in your district you have approximately 180,000 
Social Security recipients, 130,000-plus retirees, 21,000-plus 
disabled, 11,800 widows, 4,500 spouses, and over 10,000 children who 
rely on Social Security. Mr. Musk is out to dismantle and privatize 
this.
  Some of the American people may have been born at night but not last 
night, with respect to what Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump are up to: On one 
hand, they say they will not cut social security. In the next breath, 
Larry Kudlow or CNN say, no, we have to privatize these systems because 
that is where we are going to find the $2 trillion that Mr. Trump has 
asked us to find.
  What a coincidence that in the Social Security trust fund, the trust 
fund that more than 180,000 people in your district have paid into, is 
$2.7 trillion, and has never missed a payment but hasn't been expanded 
since 1971.
  Do you think those 10,000 baby boomers a day are going to call your 
office, my office, every Member of Congress' office? You bet they are, 
and they should because Congress has done nothing. In the face of this, 
Mr. Trump is now trying to privatize Social Security, first, by gutting 
it from the inside and not providing the services to the public that it 
desperately needs and then indicating this system doesn't work. So I 
guess we are going to have to grab that $2.7 trillion and privatize 
that.
  That will be a great benefit for the private sector. That would not 
help out the day-to-day workforce that relies on it and needs it and is 
depending on you, Mr. Speaker, and me and all the Members of this body. 
You owe it to your constituents to look them in the eye and tell them 
what your plan is. We have a plan to expand Social Security.
  You imagine, there are 5 million Americans, mostly women, who get 
below-poverty-level checks from the wealthiest States in the Nation, 
having paid in with the guarantee and trust from their government that 
they would have a pension they could retire on. Instead, they get 
below-poverty-level checks because of Congress' inaction. Rise up 
America. Contact your Members of Congress.

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