“Social Security is a promise to workers, to our elders, to the disabled. A promise to all people who seek to age with dignity.”

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WASHINGTON — In a House floor speech, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) highlighted the crucial need to protect and expand Social Security for the nearly 100,000 beneficiaries in the Massachusetts 7^th and millions more across the country. Her speech comes as Republicans callously attempt to cut the life-saving program, which serves seniors, veterans, folks with disabilities, and other vulnerable communities.

Footage of Rep. Pressley’s remarks can be found here and a transcript is below.

Transcript: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Advocates for Social Security Amid GOP Threats to Program

U.S. House of Representatives
January 10, 2023

Thank you, Congressman Larson, for your inspired and indefatigable leadership on this critical issue.

As someone who represents nearly 100,000 Social Security beneficiaries in the Massachusetts’ 7^th and as a Co-Chair of the Task Force on Aging and Families, I’m so proud to be an original co-sponsor of your Social Security 2100 Act.

This is a deeply consequential issue that stands to impact individuals from every walk of life: women, children, people of color, veterans, and our seniors who have earned the right to age in dignity.

Yet too often they tell me that doing so is becoming more and more difficult.

They share their anxieties from living on a fixed income. They are skeptical of the long-term stability of a system they’ve paid into – paycheck after paycheck – their entire working lives.

People like Mrs. Palmer who lives in Boston and wrote my office saying that Social Security is a promise. And I agree; it is not merely a government program.

Social Security is a promise to workers, to our elders, to the disabled. A promise to all people who seek to age with dignity.

And we will keep fighting to keep that promise.

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