Claiming Age Clarity Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMUCKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for bringing this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Moore is right. There are serious questions about Social Security and its sustainability going forward. I can tell my colleagues that Republicans want to ensure that the promises that have been made to the American people will be kept.

We need to have that conversation that Ms. Moore talked about. We need to make structural changes to the program. We have a math problem. In 8 years, if nothing is done, beneficiaries will not receive their full payments. It is time we begin to have that discussion.

Mr. Speaker, for individuals who are reaching retirement age, this ensures they have the best information available to them as they make decisions about when to start benefits.

Today, we use terms like ``early eligibility age,'' ``full retirement age,'' and ``delayed retirement credits.'' Those are confusing to people I talk with about this. Studies show that most beneficiaries don't fully understand how their claiming decisions will affect their monthly benefits. As a result, there are many seniors today who may be missing out on substantial retirement income because of suboptimal claiming decisions they made.

Mr. Speaker, that is where the Claiming Age Clarity Act comes in. My bill would simply change the terminology used by the Social Security Administration to describe the different ages when an individual can begin to claim their benefits.

Instead of ``early retirement age,'' this bill would refer to 62 as the ``minimum benefit age.'' If Americans start Social Security at 62, then that is the smallest benefit, the minimum benefit, they would receive. ``Full retirement age'' would become the ``standard benefit age.'' Age 70 would be referred to as the ``maximum benefit age.'' When describing this, it doesn't get any simpler than minimum, standard, and maximum benefit ages.

This bill will help seniors make informed decisions when deciding when to begin their Social Security benefits that they have earned.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Beyer for leading this effort with me, and I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense bill.

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