Chairman Larson Opening Statement at Social Security Subcommittee Hearing on “The Fierce Urgency of Now – Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust”

Dec 7, 2021

Press Release

(As prepared for delivery)

We have assembled expert and diverse panelists who reflect both the need and the urgency.

In legislative parlance, this bill is called H.R. 5723. But this isn't about legislative parlance. It's about kitchen table discussions which directly impact people's lives where it counts the most - their pocketbooks and their desire for a secure future. Who is this bill about? It's about your parents, your brothers and sisters, your aunts and uncles, your co-workers, your neighbors.

To be sure this bill is a first step, an enormous and important step for those who need it the most and whose very security and livelihood hangs in the balance waiting for Congress to act. While I may have preferred a more comprehensive bill, we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The time to act is now.

Social Security, as everyone knows, is the nation's number one insurance program and it impacts every American.

Here's the reality. Social Security benefits have not been expanded in over 50 years. 5 million seniors are living in poverty in the wealthiest nation on the world. Let's be clear, this is not something the President can do by Executive Order. This is not something the Supreme Court will adjudicate. It is the responsibility of Congress, and that responsibility starts with this Committee of cognizance. The time to act is now.

It is beyond me how any member can look your family members, your neighbors, the people you worship with, your co-workers, how any member can look them in the eye and explain why the Committee you serve on has taken no action on something so vital to their lives, knowing it all starts here in this Committee, knowing it is our responsibility. As Chairman, it is my intention to act and to move this legislation to a vote.

Dr. Martin Luther King said at the 1963 March on Washington, "we have come… to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now."

And to paraphrase Dr. King, now is the time to make real the promises of democracy, now is the time to make good on the promise of the Federal government to its people in what President Biden so eloquently called a Sacred Trust.

Dr. King's words served then as they do now, as a call to action.

Action:

• For 5 million fellow Americans who receive a below poverty level check. The COVID-19 pandemic and its variants have only further underscored the need to act. Why? 80 percent of the 787,000 Americans who died due to COVID were seniors. Those households need stability and security. They need it now.
• For the 65 million Americans who have seen no enhancements in their Social Security benefits amidst all the change and increased cost of living they've experienced over the last 50 years. The time to act is now.
• For our disabled veterans, as we will hear today from Shaun Castle. The urgency becomes even more paramount for never have so few done so much for so long for so many as our men and women who wear the uniform.
• For dependent children. As Cora McDonnell eloquently explained, "without Social Security I could not have survived; I would have been homeless and unable to provide for my young son and his medical condition."

This is beyond urgent, it's shameful. Dr. King reminds us this is not the time for the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism." It is the time to act and vote.

Thirty-nine years ago, Congress passed legislation that increased the longevity of the program but did so by cutting benefits. And those cuts are still going into effect as we will see this January! It's time to cast a vote on behalf of all beneficiaries. Not with cuts, but with improvements to their lives.

Believe me, no one is purchasing stock options with their Social Security checks. This is basic subsistence and survival.

This legislation is bipartisan. Majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans favor increasing benefits and oppose cuts.

They also support ensuring the wealthy pay the same as everyone else, as President Biden has proposed, by lifting the cap on those who earn more than $400,000 so that Jeff Bezos and billionaires pay the same rate as the average citizen.

Look, Democrats and Republicans agree that benefits must be improved! I'd like to thank the Chairman and my fellow Committee members for their proposals many of which we have included in this bill:

• Chairman Rich Neal
• Republican Leader Kevin Brady
• Rep. Linda Sanchez
• Republican Leader Tom Reed
• Rep. Brian Higgins
• Rep. Vern Buchanan
• Rep. Gwen Moore
• Rep. Tom Rice
• Rep. Lloyd Doggett
• Rep. Rodney Davis
• Rep. Danny Davis
• Rep. Brad Schneider

So here we are today. With a bill first submitted almost a decade ago, with a hearing leading to a mark up that is critical to our fellow Americans in need. What's different?

What's different is we have a President who believes Social Security is a "Sacred Trust". A President who saw the devastation of 2008-2009 when people's 401k's became 101k's. He's seen the impact of this pandemic, and those who have been hurt by congressional inaction. A President who knows that it is millennials who will need it more than baby boomers (of whom 10,000 a day become eligible for Social Security). So yes, we are honored to combine the President's ideas with ours to help Americans most in need.

What else is different? We have a Democratic majority who will oppose cuts to Social Security and the privatization of Social Security that Republicans and their witnesses here today continue to promote and believe that the New Deal and Social Security is a bad deal.

You see, they don't believe in the guarantee of Social Security. How ironic because the public knows when the private sector system collapsed, Social Security never missed a payment. Not a pension, not a disability, not a spousal, not a dependent payment. Members on this very committee have been recipients of Social Security.

So let us proceed to our witnesses and let us focus on what this means in people's day to day lives, what they talk about over the kitchen table as they deal with the roller coaster pandemic. And most of all let's be resolved to act!

###