Frank Pallone: “Just this last thing I wanted to mention is that apparently there is some effort on the part of the commission that…”

“Just this last thing I wanted to mention is that apparently there is some effort on the part of the commission that suggests that the benefits would be improved for widows and low earners. But from what I can see, it is just not true. It is just overstated. The Social Security benefits widows would receive under the commission's proposal for an improvement in survivor benefits would actually be less than they would receive under current law. The reason is, from what I understand, because the commission imposes sharp reductions in the basic benefits on which the survivor's benefit is calculated, so basically undermining the apparent increase in the survivor's benefit. So it is really very confusing and not what it pretends to be. It also says here that the benefit improvements for low earners may also be smaller than suggested in the commission's documents because few low wage workers have 30 years of steady earnings at the minimum wage. So few would receive the full antipoverty protection that the commission proposes. They are suggesting somehow that survivors and low wage earners are going to do better, but when you look at how they achieve those improved benefits, very few people would qualify.”