Date: 1983-03-09
Speaker: ST GERMAIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I believe that the social security compromise reported by the Ways and Means Committee is a generally fair and effective package. that will solve most of the problems plaguing the social security system. However. a few elements of this package should be reconsidered on the floor. since they cast a pall of unfairness over the whole compromise. The first. the harshest. problem with this package is the 6month delay in costofliving adjustments that would push back the necessary inflation adjustments for our senior citizens to January 1984. We have heard much about the plunging inflation rate during the last year but even a 4percent increase in prices means a 4percent decrease in purchasing power for the elderly. Perhaps a 4percent pay cut would not be important to anyone in this Chamber. but it could be a matter of life and death to senior citizens who already eke out a bare existence. caught between skyrocketing medical bills. steadily mounting fuel bills. and rising food prices. One third of our over65 population are women who are living alone. These women must make do with an average annual income of $6.000. and I think we all know that the bare necessities of life eat up most of that $6.000. A 4percent pay cut due to inflation means $240 less to spend. and a harsher life for our senior citizens. Elderly women living alone are not the only ones who will suffer from this cut. Nearly onefourth of all people over 65 count on social security as their sole source of income. and a full 65 percent say social security is their predominant source of income. These people will all be badly hurt by a pennypinching attempt to squeeze a few more cents from the leastwelloff citizens In our country. We are told that these COLA delays are done to spare those currently working from further increases in their social security taxes. yet when we look at the most recent public opinion polls. the COLA delay is opposed by a far greater percentage of people aged 18 to 29 than of people aged 65 and over. Fortyseven percent of the senior citizens oppose this COLA delay. The elderly. as always. stand ready to make necessary sacrificies to promote our economic health and the safety of the social security system. But we should not ask for sacrifices by the less well off. when the privileged and healthy can be asked to bear their fair share. So. I will oppose the COLA delay in the compromise. and support the amendment to be offered by Congressmen Prran that would Insitute an employer/employee tax rate increase of 0.53 percent in the year 2010. A tax increase of onehalf of 1 percent. nearly 30 years from now for people still at their prime earning power. is much more fair than an income cut of 4 percent this year for people who depend upon the little income they get from social security to survive. I will also oppose the socalled bend points shift that would have the effect of reducing the initial benefit levels for every worker aged 42 and under. and will cut the benefits of those workers 37 years old or younger by at least 5 percent. While tax rates are increasing for current workers. we would be taking benefits from them through the back door. if this shift became law. A third area of great concern Is the inclusion of new Federal employees In social security. It Is imperative that we recognize our commitment to current Federal employees and the soundness of their retirement system. Members of this body have been deluged with calls. letters. and visits from justifiably worried Federal employees. They want and deserve tangible assurances that their retirement system will be preserved. Immediate action must be taken to address the issue of the future of the civil service retirement system in the event that new Federal employees are brought into social security. We must give them more than promises. We must demonstrate that. when they are ready to retire. the funds will be available to provide the benefits they have been told they would receive. I hope to support this social security package In final passage. but without reconsideration of the COLA delay provisions. the bendpoint changes. and the plight of Federal employees. the pall of unfairness still hangs heavily over the compromise.