House Proceeding 10-14-09 on Oct 14th, 2009 :: 0:21:25 to 0:25:50
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0:21:21 to 0:21:42( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: defend ourselves and our citizens. once again, mr. speaker, it is time for the u.s. to lead. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. the speaker pro tempore: ms. woolsey of california. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon rise? mr. defazio: ask unanimous consent to take ms. woolsey's

0:21:25 to 0:25:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Peter A. DeFazio

0:21:43 to 0:22:05( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. defazio: next month, the government is going to go to the expense of sending out a letter to well over 40 million social security recipients telling them they aren't going to get a cost-of-living adjustment that they didn't experience inflation this year.

0:22:06 to 0:22:27( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: the problem with that the way we measure inflation is oriented toward nonessential consumer goods, of which seniors do not buy a lot. seniors have to buy pharmaceuticals, up double digits in the last year. seniors buy health insurance, medy gap policies, up, high

0:22:28 to 0:22:50( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: single digits. seniors have rent and utili probably also up depending on where they live, but not entitled to a cola because of the defect we calculate colas. i'm trying to corect this to

0:22:51 to 0:23:12( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: have a cola for seniors. it isn even reflecttive of the cost of average american families. it it was skewed in the reagan years and never tried to be fixed. in this case, we have an opportunity we could fix this injustice to our seniors and

0:23:13 to 0:23:33( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: help those most in need, many of whom who are principally or totally dependent upon a social security income. we could give them a one-time $250 payment, which would equate to almost a 2% cost-of-livg adjustment and that would cover

0:23:34 to 0:23:55( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: the increase in their medicare part b premium, maybe a little bit of what they are having to costs. for many seniors, it could avert a disaster in terms of their personal budgets. so i've in along with 14 of my colleagues.

0:23:56 to 0:24:16( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: today i re-introduce it which would give a $250 payment to 48.9 million people who are on social security and disability, 5.1 s.s.i., 1.4 million veterans and 200,000 railroad

0:24:17 to 0:24:38( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: retirees. now i want to be physicianically -- fiscally responsible. don't want to take it out of the trust fund starting in 2037. so i would pay for this. and in order to give this benefit to over 50 million people,

0:24:39 to 0:25:01( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: something for them to make ends have to do is ask that that select group of americans, many of whom work on wall street, who will earn over $1.4 million this year, that for their earnings over $1.4 million, that they pay the same social security tax as

0:25:02 to 0:25:24( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: every workingmerican. the tax only applies up to $106,000. after that, you don't pay it. your tax rate is 7% of who earns $40,000. let's make it fair. i hear about flat taxes. let's make it flat. let's ask those people to pay

0:25:25 to 0:25:46( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: the same percentage of that income in social secu people who earn less than $106,000. if they did that just for one year, we could give those 50 million seniors and disabled and veterans and railroad retirees a

0:25:47 to 0:25:51( Edit History Discussion )

Peter A. DeFazio: small $250, one-time cost-of-living adjustment. i think it's only fair in this