[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESERVING SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Reed) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about an impending crisis 
that is going to be coming upon us in 2016. Mr. Speaker, not too many 
people know or realize that our Social Security disability trust fund 
is going to be insolvent, bankrupt, underfunded--whatever term you want 
to use--by the middle of 2016. Mr. Speaker, what that means is that our 
fellow Americans--approximately 11 million of them--who receive Social 
Security disability checks are going to be looking at a 20 percent 
reduction in their benefit come the middle of 2016 if we do not step up 
to the plate and reform this critical program.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I serve on the Ways and Means Committee here in 
Washington, D.C., and 2 years ago, I questioned our Treasury Secretary 
from the White House. I said: Mr. Lew, where is the White House's 
proposal to deal with this issue? Nothing in the budget from the White 
House, nothing in the Treasury Secretary's testimony addressed this 
canary in the coal mine that is coming down upon us in 2016.
  This year I asked the same question, and essentially what I got was 
the proposal that they are going to take from Social Security retirees 
the contributions they make to Social Security retirement and transfer 
them into the disability trust fund.
  Mr. Speaker, in my private practice, my private life as a businessman 
before I came to Washington, D.C., that was essentially robbing Peter 
to pay Paul. That is not acceptable.
  We need to protect Social Security retirees. We also, Mr. Speaker, 
need to protect our fellow Americans who suffer from disabilities. We 
need to do better than robbing Peter to pay Paul. That is why I am 
looking for input from colleagues on the other side of the aisle, for 
people across the Nation to say, How can we reform the Social Security 
disability trust fund so that it meets its obligations and it stands 
with the disabled community in a way that says, You know what? If you 
want to return to work, you can.
  Because right now, Mr. Speaker, in my humble opinion, the Social 
Security disability trust fund penalizes those who suffer from 
disabilities if they return to work because then they lose their 
benefit. That doesn't make sense.
  I support the work ethic of America, and that is why I support 
reforms that are going to take care of the disability trust fund, that 
make sure that our fellow Americans receive the benefits that they need 
and rely upon. But we are also going to stand with our disability 
community and make sure if they want to return to work and have a 
capacity to return to work, we in Washington, D.C., will stand with 
them and reward that work ethic.
  Bottom line: I am going to protect our Social Security retirees 
because to put them in further harm's way, as we know the impending 
Social Security crisis that is going to come to a head in 2033, just 
around the corner, will do--to take from that retirement fund is 
further weakening our Social Security system. We can do better. We must 
do better.
  I care about those retirees. I care about those disabled fellow 
Americans. That is why I say today that we are not going to maintain 
the status quo of robbing Peter to pay Paul, but we are actually going 
to get to the business of reform. We are going to protect retirees and 
take care of our fellow Americans who are disabled.

                          ____________________