Matt Cartwright: “So here we are 10 years on, and I want you to know I was an original cosponsor of that in 2014, and I was proud to do…”

“So here we are 10 years on, and I want you to know I was an original cosponsor of that in 2014, and I was proud to do it, and I thank you for dreaming this whole idea up because it is so important. We know that it is the retirement of the baby boomer generation, this glut of population going into retirement that is the problem. We know that 2035 is the current doomsday year when we are not able to pay 100 cents on the dollar on claims. It is not a surprise that this has been coming because we knew about the baby boomer generation, and that is why you came up with this 10 years ago because it is not a surprise, and we have to prepare for it. Mr. Speaker, I speak here not of behalf of myself but on behalf of 176,000 beneficiaries of Social Security in my Congressional District in northeastern Pennsylvania, the vast majority of which are seniors, and the answer is we can't do nothing. We know what happens if we do nothing and we just get closer and closer to the 2035 cliff or whatever year it is going to be. I am sorry to say that if we do nothing, we end up with the Republican answer, and the Republican answer again and again and again is cut benefits and raise the retirement age. That is what happens if we do nothing. Cut benefits? Cut benefits? This is a program that is one of the most successful government programs--it is not even a government program; it is an insurance program.…”