Social Security A Sacred Trust
Floor Speech
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I thank my brother for yielding.
Madam Speaker, John Larson and I came into the Congress together, elected in 1998 to be here. But I want you to know, John, that I have been working on issues of Social Security since the 1970s--well before I was eligible for Social Security.
When I was an organizer in Chicago, one of my first organizing efforts was to help establish Metro Seniors in Action, an organization in the city of Chicago of older Americans. I will tell you what, John, I learned a lot from them. One of them was courage to stand up to power, to not be afraid of the old Mayor Daley in Chicago, not to be afraid of anyone, to stand up for rights. One of those priorities then, as well, was making sure that Social Security was solid.
Now that you have talked about the Alliance for Retired Americans, I was the executive director of the chapter of that in the State of Illinois throughout most of the 1980s until I ran for the legislature in 1990. And again, we were fighting--I remember well--to protect Social Security.
Well, guess what? Now, we are not just talking about protecting Social Security, but we did have a battle when George W. Bush decided that he thought privatizing Social Security was a good idea. Well, all over the country we organized, seniors organized, the Democrats organized, to make sure that privatizing Social Security, which would have jeopardized the security of that benefit--and actually, let me correct that for a minute.
You know, many people call Social Security an entitlement. This is something that people in every paycheck that they have had is paid for. This is a program that is paid for out of the pocket of workers and has to be there when they retire. This is not some sort of a gift from the American people. This is something that has been earned by the American people.
But we won that battle with George W. Bush because that was not the direction that the majority of Americans--Democrats, Republicans, rural, urban--wanted. They wanted to make sure that Social Security was reliably there. But it was always to protect Social Security. And now, thank you, John Larson, because now we are talking about improving Social Security benefits. And isn't it about time?
Right now, the majority of Americans get more than half of their income from Social Security. When Franklin D. Roosevelt first talked about Social Security, it was thought of as a three-legged stool.
Did you talk about that already?
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Okay. So the first was people's savings. You know what? There is hardly any savings anymore for the elderly. And actually, for most Americans, hardly have any money, unfortunately, that has been put away, because average wages, compared to the wealthiest people, have gone down.
The second was pensions. Remember that? There were pensions. People would have that guaranteed retirement benefit from the work. Those are largely gone. And then, Social Security to help along. Well, now it is mostly about Social Security. More than half of Americans rely on Social Security for more than half of their income. And a quarter of seniors now rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income. You need Social Security to survive.
But let's talk about what survival is. The average monthly Social Security check is $1,543 per month. Who can live on that? I mean, it is really a struggle, at the very best, to be able to even make it. That is it--$1,543 a month.
So the gentleman's legislation is so incredibly important. And you talked about grandparents. Well, you know, plenty of us in the Congress now are also Social Security-eligible. And those who are not, are thinking about their parents and loved ones. But I also want to point out that two of my grandchildren benefited from Social Security because, sadly, their mother had died. And so they were eligible for benefits that helped them to be able to continue with their education.
So it is a family plan. Social Security is a necessity. And for a long time we have also been talking about women, particularly women, people who have left the workforce to become caregivers. But there has been no help for them, even though they haven't been able to pay into Social Security.
I now understand that there will be a provision for a caregiver credit?
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank so much; for people who have taken time out of the workplace. Many of us have heard from public employees, including school teachers, who have lost Social Security benefits due to the so-called windfall elimination provision that has meant unfairly that they have lost Social Security benefits.
Finally, after years and years and years of fighting, that unfairness will be gone because of your legislation.
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, let me just close with this. We are going to hear, oh, well, you know, too much money. We can't afford to increase the benefits. I think it is important to remind people that Social Security was born during the greatest depression that this country had ever seen.
It was from the understanding of the President at that time, President Roosevelt, who understood that we cannot have poorhouses for older Americans. That this country, if we can't afford to do that, then we cannot call ourselves a real democracy, a country that really cares for people.
At this point we are the richest country in the world; the richest country ever on the planet. Now is the time when we need to do this. There is absolutely no excuse. You have said about the urgency of now. This is a moment of opportunity, and we should not make the mistake of overlooking it.
We have got everything in place. We have got your bill. We have got a President. It is time now to engage everyone in this country to say yes. Let's make improvements to one of the greatest things that ever happened in the United States, the greatest treasures that we have, and that is Social Security.
Let's make it even better. God bless you for leading the way on this. I am so proud to be helpful in any way that I can to be a partner with you. We can do this.
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