[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE CHAINED CPI

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. The latest attack on elderly beneficiaries of Social 
Security is a scheme by which seniors' cost of living benefits would be 
cut through something called a ``chained'' consumer price index--the 
CPI--chained involves a formula which recalculates the cost of living.
  The theory behind the chained CPI is that as the cost of living goes 
up, consumers--in this case, seniors--buy cheaper products. For 
example, if poor seniors cannot afford to buy and eat steak but can 
only afford to buy and eat cheaper cat food, their cost of living 
benefit would be chained to the cost of the cat food because it's 
cheaper than steak; and as a result, seniors will see their cost of 
living benefit reduced to the cheaper product and get a smaller Social 
Security check.
  The chained CPI sets up seniors for a reduced standard of living. If 
you must afford less, you get less Social Security benefits.
  The chained CPI, chaining seniors to poverty. It's time to break 
those chains.

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