Cory Booker: “I want to end with what I have been trying to do since I started some, I think, about 8 hours ago--yeah, 8 hours ago, I…”

“I want to end with what I have been trying to do since I started some, I think, about 8 hours ago--yeah, 8 hours ago, I began. I want to begin by doing what I said I was going to do, is not just lift my voice but lift the voice of New Jerseyans and Americans. And so here are some words. This is one employee from New Jersey who contacted me to say that the teleservice center has received many calls from the public from New Jersey to Georgia and other States. What they all have in common is the fear of losing their livelihood as a result of identification verification, in-person visits. Seniors, disabled, and others that are economically disadvantaged need a voice, Senator Booker. And the voice I hear all throughout the day from seniors are voices of fear. Please review any policy of in-person identification for the public. A person from my State begging because they are hearing the fear of the seniors that they pledged themselves to serve. Another Social Security employee from New Jersey contacted me and said: I worked at Social Security for almost 19 years. I was approaching my 19 years in July. However, I took the early- out retirement because there is a lot of uncertainty within the agency. The resignation of others also brings additional phone calls and workloads into the office. This adds additional stress and no additional bodies to handle the workloads. It also provides poor, unfair service to the public.…”