[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2377]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       WOMEN AND SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to denounce the so-called Social 
Security crisis that President Bush is trying to sell the American 
public.
  As the Democratic chair of the Women's Caucus, I am especially 
concerned about the impact of privatization on women. The President is 
proposing drastic cuts in Social Security survivor benefits. 
Nationally, 50 percent of Social Security beneficiaries receive all or 
part of their benefit either as a widow or widower, spouse or child of 
a worker or a disabled worker. Over 80 percent of the beneficiaries are 
women and children. Right now the typical widow receives a Social 
Security benefit of $865 a month. If the 45 percent cut projected by 
the Congressional Budget Office were to take effect currently, they 
will only receive $476 per month.
  In my own family, I have a relative who is a widow whose family 
receives Social Security survivor benefits for her last child. She had 
three. If it was not for that amount of money, she would be living in 
poverty.
  Democrats believe that all American workers should get the benefits 
they paid for. We will fight to improve the Social Security system and 
not dismantle it.

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