Jim Langevin: “Together with a number of our esteemed colleagues, we are declaring that we will not accept a budget that jeopardizes…”

“Together with a number of our esteemed colleagues, we are declaring that we will not accept a budget that jeopardizes Social Security or Medicare, programs that are essential to my constituents in Rhode Island and to Americans everywhere. As we consider this year's budget, we have a choice, to preserve Social Security and protect our Nation's elderly from poverty, or divert funds for this program to less critical priorities. To meet the needs of our country's rapidly growing senior population, I choose to prioritize Social Security and Medicare and will fight for a budget that reflects that choice. The administration's budget, on the other hand, raids $1.5 trillion of the Social Security Trust Fund surplus, the very fund Congress voted five times to place in a lockbox to ensure its solvency. This choice is unacceptable to me, and it is unacceptable to the two-thirds of recipients who rely on Social Security for the majority of their income and the almost 20 percent who rely on it for their entire income.”