[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 57 (Thursday, March 31, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about 
Social Security and its importance to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, everybody is alarmed by the fact that we have been 
dealing with a global pandemic. That global pandemic, commonly referred 
to as COVID, has taken close to a million lives in the United States of 
America. Over 700,000 of those lives are individuals over the age of 
65.
  The COVID pandemic has also turned the economy upside down and has 
led to a period of inflation. And during that period, the group that is 
impacted the most as well are seniors in America. It is people that are 
on fixed incomes that need our help directly.
  There are more than 10,000 baby boomers a day who become eligible for 
Social Security. And for about 40 percent of senior beneficiaries, 
Social Security provides the majority of their income. And for one in 
six Americans, it provides more than 90 percent of their income. And 
yet, shamefully, the United States Congress has not taken action on 
this in more than 50 years.
  Today, and every day, you can hear Members come to the floor and talk 
about their concern for our constituents; most notably, the elderly and 
even more poignantly, the veterans. More veterans rely on Social 
Security disability than they do on the VA. And yet, Congress has not 
addressed this issue in more than 50 years. The last time Congress 
addressed this issue, milk was 72 cents a gallon. Everybody knows that 
those prices have become so high today that it causes seniors to have 
to put food back on the grocery shelves because they can't afford it. 
This is especially true for people of color.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend our former leader, John Lewis, who pointed out 
and said that Social Security is the next Civil Rights Movement because 
of the discrimination that is taking place within Social Security. And 
because also, people have come to rely on it because it is a guarantee.
  We don't have to go back to 1929 and the great crash. We only have to 
go back as far as 2008 and 2009 to look at what happened in that 
recession and find out that people's 401(k) became a 101(k). And yet, 
during that same time period, Social Security never missed a payment--
not a pension payment, not a spousal payment, not a dependent coverage 
payment, and not a disability payment.

  This is not something the President can do by executive order, nor is 
it anything that the Supreme Court is going to adjudicate. This is the 
responsibility of the United States Congress, and help is on the way. 
People are going to have an opportunity to vote on Social Security 
2100, bringing Social Security into this century and then also 
rectifying the discrimination that has taken place.
  Recent polls show this: That 64 percent of Black adults say securing 
Social Security should be the top priority for the President and 
Congress to address this year. Martin Luther King had a better way of 
saying it. He called it the ``fierce urgency of now.''
  In the midst of this pandemic, remember this, my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle: These are your brothers and sisters. These are your 
parents. These are your aunts and uncles. These are your co-workers. 
These are people you worship with.
  Over 5 million Americans get below-poverty level checks from Social 
Security. Why? Because Congress hasn't taken on its responsibility and 
stepped up to the plate and done what is expected of them.
  I commend  Jim Clyburn, our leader here, who has come out strongly in 
favor of making sure that we address this inequality.

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