[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16153]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support one of 
our Nation's crowning achievements, the Social Security program, and 
the 55 million Americans who benefit from this critical program. Since 
1935, Social Security has kept its promise to America's seniors that 
after a lifetime of working and playing by the rules, you should not 
have to live in poverty when you retire.
  I was happy to see last week that after 2 years, our Nation's seniors 
will receive a well-deserved cost-of-living-adjustment increase of 3.6 
percent. The American people should be concerned, however, that the 
recently announced COLA increase would effectively disappear if this 
Congress decides to adopt a chained CPI formula for Social Security. 
The chained Consumer Price Index would lower benefits by $112 billion 
for current and future beneficiaries over the next 10 years.
  I support efforts to reduce our Federal deficit, but we should not 
balance the Nation's budget on the backs of seniors, the disabled, and 
children. I call on our colleagues to stand with America's seniors and 
support Social Security. It's not a Ponzi scheme, as some candidates 
for President allege; and let's celebrate the 3.6 percent for our 
seniors.

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