Political Quotes

“I rise to speak once again on the Social Security Disability Insurance--or DI--Program. As everyone in this Chamber should know, the DI trust fund is projected to be exhausted next year. That means, absent any change in law, we will be seeing across-the-board benefit cuts of close to 20 percent for DI beneficiaries. Over the last several months, I have come to the floor on a handful of occasions to talk about this program and the imminent depreciation of its trust fund. I have called on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with me to address these issues. I will repeat that call today. In addition, today I have introduced three separate bills that are designed to help update and improve the administration of the DI program. As we talk about solutions to address the depletion of the DI trust fund, we should also be talking about ways to update the DI program, ways to make it easier for beneficiaries who can and who desire to return to work to be able to explore those opportunities and ways to improve efforts to deter and prevent waste and fraud. The first bill I introduced today would update and expand the Social Security Administration's tools to deter and punish fraudsters who cheat the system. The second bill would authorize the Commissioner of SSA to provide denied DI applicants with information about employment support services that are provided by both public agencies and private nonprofit organizations.…”