On the recordOctober 15, 2013
Since the Senator so eloquently posed this question, since this Senator has the privilege of being the chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, and since the Senator from California has just pointed out that seniors are at risk, I wish to remind the Senate that on October 23, there is a bill due to be paid of $12 billion to Social Security recipients--October 23. Shortly thereafter, on November 1, there is another bill due: $67 billion for Social Security recipients, for Medicare recipients, and for SSI, which is Social Security for low-income seniors. In addition to the default the Senator from California has spoken about--defaulting on interest payments on U.S. Treasury bills--we are talking about default to real people with real needs. This is just a drop in the bucket of the total amount that is coming due. I thank the Senator for letting me share that information in this discussion. I might say that the Presiding Officer, the junior Senator from Massachusetts--or now the senior Senator from Massachusetts--is one of the most active and prominent members of the Special Committee on Aging, and our committee has pointed out statistics such as these over and over.
