Mike Johnson

I take this responsibility seriously, and I am committed to making sure our children and our grandchildren can count on Social Security just like seniors and individuals with disabilities do today.

It is up to Congress to make the tough choices based on the best, most accurate information we can find and is available.

Social Security has to get it right the first time, because we can't keep throwing money at it.

If we can't fix this, shame on us.

The real problem in this country right now is an economy that is not growing.

Social Security's aging and outdated IT is a real problem. So I think it is time to fix the systems.

It seems like we should have gotten it fixed then, but we didn't.

Too many programs right now are unsustainable. They were unsustainable from their very concept.

The reason it is not working is because we don't have an economy that is functioning right now.

First of all, Social Security is a business. We have to have more money coming in than going out.

If we don't get more people back to work, if we don't have a dynamic and robust economy, all of this talk that we are having is just that.

It seems like we should have gone over all those things when we built the new centers, right?

Well, good morning and welcome to today's hearing on modernizing Social Security's information technology infrastructure.

Social Security faces serious challenges and needs serious solutions, not empty words and plans that just don't add up.

So we can't tax our way to solvency.

Let's not manufacture crises. Let's make sure we move forward, and let's take care of the real, immediate crisis.

Social Security has an 80-year track record, as I said, of paying benefits on time and in full.

Now, we all know Social Security is in trouble, and the first step to solving a problem is to know what you are up against.

We sought additional data that could help us to identify, you know, more information about what the IRS is doing.

I would say that the IRS is taking people's money because the IRS wants that money to fund its own budgets.

So one case that I found shocking, it is slightly different, but in the Ken Quran case, for instance, after they got their money back, the day after they got their money back, they received a letter from the IRS saying that they were being…

Again, in the Vocatura case, this is shocking, but the day that they refused to agree to this plea agreement, to plead guilty to structuring, they were told that they would be subjected to a criminal tax investigation of their business.

This is shocking, it is wrong, and it is still going on today, and it has to stop.

All we are asking in Randy's case or in the Taylors' case is for them to give back money to people who have actually gone ahead and filed a petition.

We filed a petition saying that in light of the policy change, this money should be returned.