Social Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I was first elected to the House of Representatives, here in Washington, in 1982. That is a long time ago, but I remember very well my first year in the House.

Politically, I was scared to death. It was my first election victory, and I had defeated a 22-year Republican incumbent Congressman. I was looking over my shoulder every day, every minute, every bill, every vote, thinking: This is it. I can't get this done.

And then they came around and told us something I didn't want to hear at all. They said: Incidentally, the Social Security system is going broke, and it will happen within a year or 2, and we have to fix it.

I thought to myself: This is the end of me. No matter what they come up with--whatever proposal it is--the controversy will be so intense that it will cost me my congressional seat.

I listened to the debate, and I saw the end product that was suggested, in 1983, for 50 years of solvency for Social Security and decided, in the end, that the responsible thing to do was to vote for it.

We passed it. We waited to see what the electorate would do. Not a single Member of the House of Representatives of either party lost an election attributable to the Social Security vote.

By making some hard decisions in a timely fashion, saving Social Security, we did the right thing for America, and, politically, it turned out to be a safe thing, whether we believed it at the time or not.

So now we face another crisis in Social Security. The 50 years of solvency which we bought in 1983 is running out. The Social Security Board of Trustees releases a report that tells us about the status of Social Security finances. Their 2026 report, released yesterday, should send alarm bells through Congress. According to the Board of Trustees, the Social Security trust fund will be unable to make full scheduled payments in 2032.

So the effort that I was involved in, in 1983, paid off. We bought 50 years, but now what are we going to do?

Just 6 years from now, Social Security will only be able to pay 78 percent of current benefits. What does that mean?

I will give you a rough illustration. The average Social Security check in the United States is around $2,500. If you reduce it by 22 percent, people will receive about $450 less each month.

It means that beneficiaries across our Nation will see their benefit checks cut by 22 percent. Twenty-two percent means $455. It is about or around the average a retired household spends on groceries each month.

That could be devastating. We cannot let it happen.

Roughly, 70 million Americans--seniors and people with disabilities-- rely on Social Security for food, medication, housing, and utilities. In my home State Illinois, over 2.3 million people receive Social Security. Twenty percent of seniors in Illinois rely on it for all or nearly all of their income. It is all they have. Each year, Social Security lifts 533,000 seniors 65 and over out of poverty in my State.

Social Security is a lifeline that they earned after a lifetime of hard work. But many beneficiaries still struggle with living expenses. Every day, seniors are forced to make decisions most Americans pray they will never have to face, like whether to buy groceries or pay the utility bill, refill their medications or pay their rent or mortgage.

Now, if we do nothing--if Congress does nothing--with this Board of Trustees report, every single Senator faces the prospect of making do with $455 less a month in just 6 years.

These are not hypotheticals. Every single Senator has received these heartbreaking stories from constituents about what they are doing, struggling to survive on a fixed income or Social Security.

One of my constituents Kimberly shared her appreciation of Social Security and said it is traced back to her grandmother, who was a maid and commuted to the suburbs from Chicago to work each day.

Kimberly said her grandmother stopped school in the ninth grade and had a family of eight children. When she retired after her husband died, she relied heavily on Social Security.

Kimberly said:

Social Security was [my mom's] monthly stream of income-- her only monthly stream of income.

So why haven't we done something to avoid this deadline in 2032? It is because we have a fear of doing what is right and maybe politically unpopular.

Every year, when the Social Security Trustees Report is released, we again bury our heads in the sand and say: Thank goodness some future Congress will take care of this problem.

Social Security is a bedrock promise we made to America--the most fundamental safety net program in America--and I am concerned that Congress will wait until the absolute last minute to try to do anything to save it. That would make it extremely difficult and make it irresponsible conduct and unacceptable.

Earlier today, I released a bipartisan statement. Yes, Senators of both political parties issued a statement together. Senators Bill Cassidy, Tim Kaine, Thom Tillis, and I are saying to Congress: Don't wait. Do something.

We must find a way for Congress to debate this issue in a transparent, fair, and bipartisan way, a mechanism that forces us to make meaningful, important policy choices.

Several of us have been working together, trying to figure out how we can strengthen Social Security for future generations of retirees. We say to our colleagues: Join us in doing what we were elected to do-- legislate on hard issues and protect this lifeline program, Social Security, for our kids and grandkids, because we do not have a shortage of ideas. What we lack is the will to do it.

There are many bills that are out there. The senior Senator from Vermont has a bill to address this crisis; the junior Senator from Rhode Island, the same; the senior Senator from Hawaii, equally. The senior Senator from Louisiana is working on it as well.

Good ideas are out there, but we need to come together on a bipartisan basis and agree on a path that buys 50 years of solvency at a minimum. Those Senators worked their proposals for a long time. They want to present them to the Senate, and they should.

But to do that, we have to do something we haven't done in a long time. Get ready. Buckle your seatbelts. I am talking about legislating, actually bringing a measure to the floor and opening it to amendment. We would say: You could offer an amendment, if you wish, to anyone's proposal for Social Security, but whatever you do, it has to buy a minimum of 50 years of solvency for Social Security. And then let's vote.

There will be some ideas that will be crazy and that you wouldn't even consider them. But I think we can work to a bipartisan solution to our challenge as well.

These measures should be debated, receive a vote, and have their own chance to become law. Let's not run away from this responsibility anymore. Let's not say: It is somebody else's problem.

We were elected to solve problems, and there is no greater problem than the solvency and the future of Social Security.

If you think I am making that up, blowing smoke, ask senior citizens how important Social Security is. They will tell you it is critical for their survival.

We were sent to Congress to legislate and work on hard issues. Four Senators--two Democrats and two Republicans--are stepping forward and saying: We can work on this together.

We owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect and bolster this critically important program.

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