Janice Schakowsky: “we could have no higher goal than to protect and improve the financial security of retirees, survivors, dependents, and…”

“we could have no higher goal than to protect and improve the financial security of retirees, survivors, dependents, and disabled workers. For 67 years, Social Security has been the bedrock of that security. Nearly 46 million people living in one out of every four households in this country today receive monthly benefits from Social Security. Social Security provides critical insurance protections against the future loss of income due to retirement, death, or disability for 96 percent of all workers, their spouses, and their children. Social Security provides over half of the total income for the average elderly household. For one-third of women over age 65, Social Security represents 90 percent of their total income. Without this program, half of older women in this country would be living in poverty. It is our responsibility to ensure that the Social Security program guarantee is here today, tomorrow, and for generations to come. It is our job, as elected officials, to enact the policies needed to maintain that guarantee and to reject policies that undermine Social Security; it is not our job to spend taxpayer dollars to send out worthless paper certificates designed to provide a false sense of security to American seniors and their families.”