Matt Cartwright: “I thank Chairman Larson for yielding me the time, and it is an honor and a privilege for me to speak out in favor of…”

“I thank Chairman Larson for yielding me the time, and it is an honor and a privilege for me to speak out in favor of this wonderful bill, Social Security 2100. Social Security, something that has been a triumph for American government for close to a hundred years now; Social Security that has kept seniors out of poverty. It used to be that in this country, seniors died in poverty, died of starvation. That happened in America. Don't think it couldn't happen again. But under the Social Security Administration, it doesn't happen. Seniors who work their whole lives and pay into this insurance program reap the benefit of doing so and have money coming to them. It isn't a lot, but it is keeping people alive and out of poverty, and out of poverty through some of the most extreme downturns in our economy. It is something that protected seniors from starving to death during terrible moments of economic stress and distress in this country. Social Security is something that all of us Americans ought rightfully to be proud of; that it was enacted during the Roosevelt administration; that has been protected and defended for generation after generation; and that it has succeeded in keeping Americans out of poverty in the most dire circumstances. It is a legacy that the Democratic party are very, very proud of, and all of us band together at a moment's notice to protect it when it is threatened by those who think ill of it. Those instances have not been few or far between.…”