Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, it is great to be here this morning, and I rise to discuss the ongoing issue of Social Security. As you know, Mr. Speaker, more than 70 million Americans rely on Social Security, and Social Security is the Nation's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and the number one antipoverty program for children. It also, Mr. Speaker, is the number one program with regard to disability, and more veterans rely on Social Security disability than they do on the VA. Mr. Speaker, I know that Speaker Houchin was in the chair before, and part of our rising to speak about Social Security is to make people aware in their districts of how many retirees they actually have. For example, in New York's 19th, you have 173,667 recipients. More than $300 million comes into the 17th District in New York monthly for those recipients; 130,000 of which are retirees, 20,000 disabled workers, 8,900 widows, 4,247 spouses, and almost 10,000 children. What is astounding, Mr. Speaker, is that Congress has done nothing. In fact, what will shock the public is that Congress has not extended the benefits of Social Security in more than 50 years. Richard Nixon was President of the United States when Congress last acted. Imagine 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Social Security. Yet, Congress has done nothing.…”