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Proposal to Cut Death Benefit Under Social Security

Date: Feb. 8, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net


PROPOSAL TO CUT DEATH BENEFIT UNDER SOCIAL SECURITY -- (House of Representatives - February 08, 2006)

02/08/06

(Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I was amazed a few minutes ago to have the Office of Management and Budget Director tell me in a committee hearing that the administration is eliminating the $255 death benefit available to widows and widowers under Social Security as a part of its great budget savings; justified, he told me, because that death benefit is anachronistic, to use his term.

Well, as far as I know, death is still occurring across America. There are poor widows and widowers for whom $255 is an important contribution toward the cost of a burial. The fault has been in not keeping that $255 benefit with the purchasing power it had for a widow or widower in the 1950s.

A benefit that goes back to 1939 under Social Security is one of the benefits that the President and this Republican Congress in their budget propose now to eliminate. It is wrong and I hope this House will reject this unfortunate move.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r109:./temp/~r109RoeqGm

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