[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11229]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE DEBT CRISIS

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. The huffing and puffing over the debt crisis is 
reminiscent of Washington's tumult over the Wall Street bailout: Panic 
the public with claims the sky is falling and then start to drop things 
from the sky. In this case threats that Social Security checks will not 
be sent out.
  We must avoid default, but Social Security didn't cause the debt 
crisis. Social Security has nothing to do with the debt crisis. 
Withholding Social Security checks or cutting Social Security benefits 
would represent a default to the American people and an abandonment of 
the principles of the economic justice that created Social Security.
  The White House wants a big deal, a $4 trillion debt deal. But that 
deal must not come from cuts to Social Security--or Medicare, for that 
matter. Millions of senior citizens, who in their lifetime built this 
country, who fought for this country, who depend on their Social 
Security check as an economic lifeline want to see if their concerns 
are a big deal to us.

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