Sean Patrick Maloney: “I'd like to thank my Democratic colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and the Democratic Women's Caucus for…”

“I'd like to thank my Democratic colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and the Democratic Women's Caucus for organizing this Special Order on this critical topic. As I have said before the Administration's proposal to cut Social Security in half is bad for every American and is particularly bad for women. Today, 24 million women get Social Security. Because women tend to live longer and earn less than men, they tend to rely more on Social Security for financial security in their old age. Women are 60 percent of all recipients at retirement and 75 percent-- three quarters of recipients over age 85. There remains a real wage gap between women and men in this country and that translates into a real pension gap. According to the Social Security Administration the median earnings of women working full time are only 75 percent of those of men. The wage gap is much bigger when one looks at it over a working lifetime. Over a 15 year span, women only earn 38 percent of what men earn. Social Security reduces the poverty rate among women by about 80 percent and is the only source of income for almost 30 percent of retired unmarried women. For all unmarried women and widows, Social Security makes up over half of their income whereas for unmarried men and couples Social Security only makes up a bit more than a third of their retirement income. In addition, women rely more than men on spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and disability benefits.”