Steven Kuykendall: “I rise today to urge Members' support of a piece of legislation that will be introduced shortly in the House. That…”

“I rise today to urge Members' support of a piece of legislation that will be introduced shortly in the House. That legislation is called the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 1999 and it removes the earnings limitations that now exist in our Social Security laws. For 1999, this limit penalizes retirees with above $9,600 in earnings. For example, if the Social Security recipient is under the age of 65 and they earn $20,000, they would lose $5,200 from their Social Security benefit. It is a little better if you are age 65 to 69. Then you would only lose about $3,500 in your Social Security benefits. This restriction on outside earnings dates back to the original Social Security law. In 1935, unemployment in the United States exceeded 25 percent, net new business investment was a negative $55 billion, and national wages had declined from $50 billion in 1929 to $30 billion. In this environment, it made sense to provide a disincentive to an older generation of workers to remain in the work force. The government would take care of this older generation by ensuring a level of financial support we now call a social insurance system. In turn, new positions for younger workers were created, giving them the wherewithal to become financially independent from government assistance. Taxes from these workers would become the mechanism to fund the benefits payments to the retirees. Sixty-five years later, it is time to revisit the premise underlying this penalty.”