Eighty-nine years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which created a new government-managed insurance program for retirees.
Five years later, on January 31, 1940, Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, received her first monthly Social Security pension check. The check was for $22.54. Miss Fuller, a retired legal secretary, began collecting benefits at age 65 and lived to be 100.
For generations, Social Security has been a promise to our nation’s workers that they will be able to retire with dignity after decades of hard work. Today, residents of California’s 4th District receive a total of $286 million a month in Social Security benefits.
These benefits provide financial security for retirees and disabled Californians. But Social Security’s impact doesn’t end there. These funds flow into our local economy, support our businesses and banks, and enrich our entire community.
A new proposal from the Republican Study Committee in Congress targets Social Security. In it, conservative lawmakers propose cutting the program by more than $1.5 trillion, reducing disability benefits and raising the retirement age to 69.
I am against these extreme measures.
My colleagues who want to cut the program and raise the retirement age want to scare Americans and make them believe that this is our only chance to save the ailing Social Security system. That is nonsense. Social Security is not failing.
Social Security is 100 percent solvent for the next decade, after which simple changes can be made to ensure it remains stable and provides a secure retirement plan for another 89 years.
That’s why I co-sponsored a bill by my colleague, Representative John Larson (D-CT), to ensure that Social Security continues to provide full benefits to all without making unnecessary cuts or raising the retirement age.
Social Security is a cornerstone of American life. As we celebrate the program’s 89th anniversary, I reaffirm my commitment to strengthening Social Security so that it can continue to serve Americans in the year 2100 and beyond.
By Congressman Mike Thompson
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