Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, Social Security provides vital benefits millions of Americans who work and pay into the system with each paycheck. Because Social Security is fundamental to workers' retirement security, the law protected benefits from creditors. The only exceptions were unpaid Federal taxes, child support or alimony payments, and court-ordered victim restitution. These protections ensured that the social safety net programs would be there for basic needs. That protection was weakened over 20 years ago when the law was changed. Now, more and more seniors face cuts in their Social Security benefits because of student loan debts. While Congress and the Biden- Harris Administration took significant steps to protect Americans from facing crushing debt during a global pandemic, exempting the economic impact payments from garnishment and extending the freeze on student loan payments through January 2022, seniors will still be on the hook for cosigning their child or grandchild's student loan debt when those payments resume. We need to take action today to restore the strong protections to Social Security and other benefit programs.

We now realize what a profound effect the loss of these protections has had on retirees and individuals with disabilities, who often live on fixed incomes. More and more seniors and people with disabilities are having their Social Security and other lifeline benefits taken away to pay Federal debts. For example, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Fiscal Service, over 167,000 Americans had their benefits garnished for student loan debt. While 167,000 seems small compared to a nation of over 320 million, those 167,000 had nearly $200 million garnished from their earned benefits. This is just the tip of the iceberg as more Americans start receiving benefits. Between 2008 and 2018, the number of individuals whose Social Security benefits were offset to pay student loans debt increased by 133 percent, from about 72,000 to 169,000. Over that same period, the amount collected from Social Security benefits ballooned from almost $63 million to nearly $200 million, a 217-percent increase.

Social Security plays a critical role in keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of poverty. In Oregon alone, Social Security cuts the poverty rate of the elderly from about 35 percent to 5 percent. However, despite Social Security's critical role in the safety net, close to 1 out of every 10 seniors over age 65 and 1 in 5 disabled workers still live in poverty and that is simply unacceptable.

I, along with Senators Brown, Whitehouse, Leahy, Warren, Hirono. Sanders, Padilla, Van Hollen, and Murray am reintroducing the Protection of Social Security Benefits Restoration Act. The bill would restore the strong protections in the law that prevented the government from taking away earned benefits to pay Federal debts, and guarantee beneficiaries will be able to maintain a basic standard of living by receiving the benefits they have earned. The bill is supported by the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, Social Security Works, National Association of Disability Representatives, AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Government Employees, National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, Justice in Aging, American Federation of Teachers, Alliance for Retired Americans, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record following this statement.

Mr. President, Social Security provides vital benefits millions of Americans who work and pay into the system with each paycheck. Because Social Security is fundamental to workers' retirement security, the law protected benefits from creditors. The only exceptions were unpaid Federal taxes, child support or alimony payments, and court-ordered victim restitution. These protections ensured that the social safety net programs would be there for basic needs. That protection was weakened over 20 years ago when the law was changed. Now, more and more seniors face cuts in their Social Security benefits because of student loan debts. While Congress and the Biden- Harris Administration took significant steps to protect Americans from facing crushing debt during a global pandemic, exempting the economic impact payments from garnishment and extending the freeze on student loan payments through January 2022, seniors will still be on the hook for cosigning their child or grandchild's student loan debt when those payments resume. We need to take action today to restore the strong protections to Social Security and other benefit programs.

We now realize what a profound effect the loss of these protections has had on retirees and individuals with disabilities, who often live on fixed incomes. More and more seniors and people with disabilities are having their Social Security and other lifeline benefits taken away to pay Federal debts. For example, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Fiscal Service, over 167,000 Americans had their benefits garnished for student loan debt. While 167,000 seems small compared to a nation of over 320 million, those 167,000 had nearly $200 million garnished from their earned benefits. This is just the tip of the iceberg as more Americans start receiving benefits. Between 2008 and 2018, the number of individuals whose Social Security benefits were offset to pay student loans debt increased by 133 percent, from about 72,000 to 169,000. Over that same period, the amount collected from Social Security benefits ballooned from almost $63 million to nearly $200 million, a 217-percent increase.

Social Security plays a critical role in keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of poverty. In Oregon alone, Social Security cuts the poverty rate of the elderly from about 35 percent to 5 percent. However, despite Social Security's critical role in the safety net, close to 1 out of every 10 seniors over age 65 and 1 in 5 disabled workers still live in poverty and that is simply unacceptable.

I, along with Senators Brown, Whitehouse, Leahy, Warren, Hirono. Sanders, Padilla, Van Hollen, and Murray am reintroducing the Protection of Social Security Benefits Restoration Act. The bill would restore the strong protections in the law that prevented the government from taking away earned benefits to pay Federal debts, and guarantee beneficiaries will be able to maintain a basic standard of living by receiving the benefits they have earned. The bill is supported by the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, Social Security Works, National Association of Disability Representatives, AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Government Employees, National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, Justice in Aging, American Federation of Teachers, Alliance for Retired Americans, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record following this statement.

Madam President, reserving the right to object.

Parliamentary inquiry, Madam President. I am trying to juggle two things at once.

We are talking about the Social Security UC; is that correct?

Madam President, I reserve my right to object.

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and as a former director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting Americans' earned Social Security benefits.

Now, we know Halloween is right around the corner and families are getting ready for festivities--decorating their houses, picking out costumes, and watching scary movies. My colleague from Florida seems to be getting into the spirit of all this by telling the American people scary stories about vaccines threatening their Social Security benefits. I don't believe the American people are so easily tricked. This idea is as fantastical and ridiculous as a vampire living under your bed.

The fact that Republicans are trying to scare folks for political gain I think is just very, very disappointing. These bills that are rooted in political messaging aren't going to help to end this pandemic or take concrete steps to address actual challenges facing many of our constituents.

With that, I object.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, again, this deals with an area that is in the province of the Senate Finance Committee. There, I made a special priority of ensuring that Americans who count on Federal healthcare programs can actually get the care they need. The notion that Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP coverage could be subject to vaccination status is just nonsense.

Contrary to Republican views that Federal coverage should be contingent on filing extensive paperwork, as conservative Governors have pushed in States from sea to shining sea, Democrats believe healthcare is a basic human right and should be available to all.

Millions of Americans have received the COVID-19 vaccine through the Medicare and Medicaid Programs. That ought to be celebrated as a success rather than scaring people about their earned benefits being taken away.

These bills--now two of them--are thoroughly about political messaging and aren't going to help to end this pandemic or do anything to address challenges facing so many of our constituents.

With that, again, I object.

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President and colleagues, the Senator's proposal in effect would be a game-winning touchdown for wealthy tax cheats.

IRS Commissioner Rettig, a Republican appointee, came before the Finance Committee earlier this year and said the total amount of taxes evaded each year could be as high as $1 trillion. Cheating by those at the very top is one of the major causes of that huge tax gap. A big reason why is that the automatic reporting and strict rules that apply to the typical, hard-working taxpayer--nurses and firefighters, for example--they don't always apply to those at the top. That means the tax cheats are able to hide their cheating in the shadows.

The Senator's proposal would help them keep it that way. This proposal would make it extraordinarily difficult to collect the information necessary to crack down on the high-flying tax cheats.

The argument against information reporting is always the same, and it has been consistently wrong. Despite what opponents say, what President Biden and Democrats have proposed is focused on rooting out tax cheating at the top. It wouldn't apply to accounts with deposits and withdrawals under $10,000. And for most people, that is $10,000 on top of your paycheck. It is not about anybody's transactions. They wouldn't be reported, colleagues. It wouldn't create any new surveillance of digital currency. This information-reporting proposal is about reporting only two numbers: the total amount going into an account and the total amount going out of it. Social Security income does not count either.

So this idea--and I have listened to my friends--that somehow this is going to end Western civilization just doesn't hold up.

In fact, Commissioner Rettig, a Republican appointee, pointed out recently that this plan could actually reduce the odds of an audit for middle-class taxpayers, those folks that I was talking about, the nurses and the firefighters.

I am going to close with just a couple of other points. Most of my colleagues know that I am about as strong a privacy hawk as there is in the Senate. And I don't take a backseat to anybody when it comes to fighting for Americans' privacy, whether it is taxpayer data, communications, web traffic--you name it. And, colleagues, all of that work, all of that private work, is on the public record. It is a matter of public record. It isn't an atomic secret.

In those debates about privacy, it is also striking that it is most often Members of the other side attempting to stop reforms, for example, to government surveillance of phone records and emails and web browsing--web browsing. But when Democrats are working to crack down on ultrawealthy tax cheats, that is when, suddenly, we have got Republicans saying: Oh, my goodness; who is going to be sensitive to privacy?

I want to repeat, as I have on this floor again and again, I will talk to anybody on either side of the aisle with any philosophy about protecting taxpayer data. As the chairman of the

Senate Finance Committee, which handles privacy policy, I want it understood that our committee--and I, particularly, given my record on privacy issues--we take privacy very seriously.

That is not what is on offer by the other side today. The bottom line is wealthy tax cheats are ripping off the American people to the tune of billions and billions of dollars per year. Tax cheats thrive when the reporting rules that apply to them are loose and murky. Democrats want to fix this broken approach and crack down on cheating at the top. The Senator's proposal would make that impossible, and it would hand-- colleagues, it would hand, the Senator's proposal--a big fourth-quarter victory to the tax cheats.

For that reason, I object.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5434, which is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, October 4; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the House message that accompanies S. 1301.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 376, 386, 387, and 391; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2278, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate

proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 405, which was submitted earlier today.

I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 406, which was submitted earlier today.

I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, it is my understanding that the House is going to send the Senate a 30-day extension of the Surface Transportation Authorization Act. The Republicans cannot clear it tonight; therefore, we will come back tomorrow and try to pass it then.