Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting Speech From Government Interference Act; Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Providing for Congressional Disapproval of A Rule Submitted By the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency; and S. Covid-19 Origin Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mrs. PELTOLA. Madam Speaker, with enactment of the Social Security Act in 1935, this country promised Americans that if they worked hard and contributed to the program to support others, when they retire or become disabled or lose a spouse, they will be taken care of, too.

Social Security helps us provide for retirees but also disabled workers, widows and widowers, spouses, and children.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt claimed that Social Security would ``promote the common welfare and the economic stability of the Nation,'' and it has.

Social Security has kept millions of seniors out of poverty and continues to do so. Today, Social Security provides monthly checks to more than 65 million beneficiaries who rely on it for food and other necessities.

For over 85 years now, trusting in the promise of Social Security, millions of Americans have worked hard, paying into the program out of every single paycheck for decades.

In 2019, Social Security had helped 31,146 Alaskans stay out of poverty. A report from a few years ago found that without Social Security the elderly poverty rate in Alaska would have increased from 7.6 percent to 28 percent. As of 2021, over 110,000 Alaskans were receiving monthly Social Security benefits, including 84,796 who are 65 and older. In total, that is over 13 percent of Alaskan residents.

I was raised, as I think many others were, with the value of treating elders with great deference and respect, to care for them as they have cared for us. I can think of no better way to do that than to ensure that they have a safe and secure retirement. Simply, this program reflects our values. All Americans deserve to retire with dignity.

We must support our senior citizens by strengthening Social Security and not slashing it. We need to protect and expand Social Security.

Despite the many demonstrated successes of the Social Security program, there have been no benefit increases to the program in over 50 years. I hear from many Alaskans back home who are scared that they will not receive the Social Security benefits they have worked so hard for all their lives.

Alaskans worry that the checks they depend on will suddenly disappear, and they have no plan B. They count on receiving this earned benefit that they rely on to pay for essentials like heating. My own monthly heating bill in my hometown of Bethel, Alaska, is over $1,000 a month, and my understanding is that is a low bill.

People do not deserve to live with this kind of uncertainty and insecurity. That is why safeguarding and reforming Social Security must be a priority for this Congress.

Social Security was a solemn promise made to Americans by its government in full faith and credit. I commit to protecting this promise for Alaska and all Americans and implore my colleagues to do the same.

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