"We have the tools to do things differently--the only question is whether we're going to use them, for as long as it takes."
"American workers bailed out the financial industry, but their livelihoods were not treated with the same urgency."
"This is the first hearing on SSI in the Senate Finance Committee since 1998."
"To ensure the Nation's aged, blind, and disabled people would no longer have to subsist on below-poverty level incomes."
"They are punished if they try to save for an emergency."
"There has not been a hearing in Congress specifically about increasing benefits or eligibility since the Reagan administration."
"They now force millions of disabled and older Americans to live well below the poverty line."
"Now is the time to finally restore this critical part of our Social Security system back to its real intent."
"Well, how interesting is that, because we do not--so few have defined pension benefits now."
"That sends a pretty absurd message. SSI's outdated rules make it impossible for beneficiaries to live with dignity."
"I am enormously grateful to Chairman Brown for his leadership in introducing the SSI Restoration Act of 2021."