Richard J. Durbin
Senator for Illinois · Democratic · United States
“But the fact of the matter is, there is scarcely a peep when Senator Curtis, a Republican Member of the Senate, made what is a perfectly reasonable suggestion--that Congress look into any possibility of corruption and self-dealing when a member of the President's family receives such a lavish gift from a Russian oligarch.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“He proceeded to also tell how he had turned down many opportunities for payment, salaries, fees, rewards that were available to former Presidents even in the early 1950s.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Democrats fought for pocket rescission protection in the continuing resolution we passed earlier this year to prevent the White House from doing exactly what they have done. Not surprisingly, Republicans in the Senate and the House refused to stand for the law for fear that they would anger their President.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Still, Republicans on the committee have made no effort to obtain a copy of volume 2 of Jack Smith's report, which details the findings from the criminal investigation into President Trump's alleged mishandling of classified materials. You remember the classified information that was found near the bathroom in Mar-a-Lago? I remember it.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Think about that for a second. Here are this President and his family, who are making billions of dollars--if you include the family-- from investments that directly relate to his office.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Madam President, before I start my remarks this afternoon, I would like to make note of two interesting events this weekend. I was asked to speak at a dinner in St. Louis right across the river from my hometown of East St. Louis, and it was known as a Harry Truman dinner.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
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“Mr. President, those seeking to recoup losses from President Trump's disastrous tariff policies will appear before what is called the Court of International Trade. As is the case with many of President Trump's judicial nominees in his second term, his choice to fill a vacancy on this Court Kara Westercamp was tapped because of her obvious loyalty to the President who nominated her instead of her loyalty to the law.”
Senate21 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate21 July 2026Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla), the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen), and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith), are necessarily absent.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“I don't believe it will. We need to stop this effort immediately. We need to give the American people the last word in the election in November, not the President and his bizarre theories on who won in 2020. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“SAVE America Act Mr. President, as we heard in the President's address, he will use these bogus claims to push for passage of this anti-democratic and anti-voting SAVE America Act. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in the United States. They face prosecution and jail time for doing it. The SAVE America Act attempts to solve a problem that does not exist. The bill would impose expensive administrative roadblocks, making it more difficult for people to vote. Is that what America is all about, difficulties and hurdles for exercising our right to vote?”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“I will tell you: It is exactly what he did in the months preceding the 2020 election that he sought to steal. He is trying to lay the groundwork to justify rigging the results of the next election. That is the real political theater. President Trump and his Republican Party are struggling in the polls. They know their MAGA agenda is making life more expensive, communities less safe, and government more corrupt. And guess what. We are now again, sadly, in a never-ending war. So now they are focused on reviving thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories to undermine future elections before a single vote is cast.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“I asked my wife: Where is my birth certificate? She said: I think it is in a box in the closet. We haven't seen it in a long time. Well, according to the President's SAVE America bill, you are going to have to produce one. Incidentally, if you are a woman with a maiden name on a birth certificate, you have to have additional documentation. All of this to stop the scourge of noncitizens who voted. There were 77 of them over a 30-year period of time--77 in a nation of millions of people. But the President can't get it out of his head that somehow or another that foreigners have taken over our election. He lost one, and he just can't live with it. So why would the President have hosted a prime-time address attempting to resurrect these debunked claims?”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“Half of Americans don't own a passport. If you want to get a passport so you can vote in the next election in about 100 days, what does it take? Well, you go to the passport Agency, and you plop down $165--that is what it costs for a basic passport in this country--and then you hope--you hope--it arrives in time. If you want to speed it up, get an accelerated process, it is $225. So in order to exercise your right to vote, under the SAVE America law, the President wants you to pay a poll tax, a passport fee, of up to $225 to vote. Anything wrong with that? That is just against most of the laws we have promulgated over the years saying that poll taxes on people to vote are fundamentally unfair. Oh, you can bring your birth certificate. I was thinking about that when I was home over the weekend.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“When we took a look, between 1993 and 2023--that would be 30 years, 1993 to 2023--millions and millions of votes were cast. How many noncitizens have we identified tried to vote in those elections? Well, if we are going to change the laws of the United States, there must be a lot of them. Turned out there were 77. Out of the millions of people who registered and voted, 77 were actually not citizens of the United States. The President wants to change the law. And how does he want to change the law? Well, if you want to register to vote, under the President's approach, you have to prove you are a citizen of the United States. How can you do that? Well, I will show my driver's license. I am sorry, that is not enough under this law. Under this law, you would have to show your passport. Got one in your back pocket?”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“He alleges the deep state misrepresented what actually happened to hide information from him. Second, his then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, whom President Trump now has leading the Central Intelligence Agency, made public remarks addressing all of these concerns in 2020. It is hard to hide information you publicly discuss in press conferences. President Trump claimed the Department of Homeland Security has identified 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Federal elections. Think of that. The President of the United States claimed that his Agency of government has the names of 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Federal elections. Well, I sure want to see that evidence. I am sure the American people do too. The President can't produce it.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“You see, despite the fact that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by 7 million votes, President Trump refuses to acknowledge the truth, and he continues to complain, which was the reason for his statement last week. In a 25-minute rant, the President alleged sweeping foreign interference in voting and railed against the so-called deep state. He was actually railing against his own administration. You see, the 2020 election was during his first term as President. He was in charge. He appointed the people that were supposed to enforce the law. The press conference and the announcement last week ignored that fact. These claims would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. First, the President was famous for not reading and requesting shorter and shorter versions of a brief provided by our intelligence community each day.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“Trump Prime-Time Address to the Nation Mr. President, on a separate topic, last week, the President of the United States delivered a prime-time address from the White House. These sorts of addresses are usually reserved for national crises or the marking of a major milestone. So what was the occasion last week for President Trump to make such an address? To air 6-year-old grievances and lies about the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“We mourn the loss of these beloved community members, and Senate Democrats will continue to call for an end to these fatal raids.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“Why is that important? I will tell you. This change will sharply limit law enforcement scrutiny of ICE agents. For years, the Department of Justice's involvement in officer- involved shootings has provided an independent set of eyes and often uncovered crucial facts, including misconduct by Federal officers-- misconduct that has been evident in recent cases. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has at least agreed to investigate the use of excessive force by ICE agents, but it is unacceptable that the government's top law enforcement Agency, the FBI, has reportedly chosen to ignore its mission to enforce the law and instead does the White House's bidding. At a time when the American people are demanding more transparency and answers, the administration gives us less.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“If there is a warrant or extraordinary circumstances, that is one thing, but the ICE agents crashed down the door of people they suspect might be in the United States undocumented. Many times, they are just plain wrong. Sometimes, those homeowners turn out to be U.S. citizens. Yet when we sit down and say ``That should be basic in America, shouldn't it? If somebody is going to invade my home, with my wife and my kids or grandkids in there, for goodness' sake, they ought to have at least the color of law behind them, the support of the court behind them''--not ICE agents--every instance we have tried to make these changes--simple, commonsense law enforcement changes--the Republicans said no. Instead, the administration has lurched in the opposite direction, enabling these abuses to continue.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“We know that their background checks are obviously very weak, and the training is limited. We also know that when they are on the job, on the clock, they are wearing masks. When is the last time your local police wore a mask in your hometown? How about your State troopers when they pull you over on the highway? Are they wearing masks? Of course not. But this is insisted on because these ICE agents are so notorious. These fatalities that I have talked about could have been avoided. These people could be alive today. After the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, we tried time and again to get our Republican colleagues to sit down and agree just on some basics. Without a search warrant or an arrest warrant, a person posing to be a policeman should not be crashing down the door of your home. That is pretty basic, isn't it?”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“They are people who work in common jobs every single day, who stood next to you in the line in the grocery store, and who were with you in the pew at church on Sunday. ``Worst of the worst'' didn't hold up at all. At its peak, tensions boiled over with the killing of two American citizens at that time. We saw it in real time and on videotape: Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. After the public outcry, these ICE raids were quietly scaled back by the Trump administration and Stephen Miller. But now Stephen Miller, the President's domestic adviser, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Mullin are quietly resuming these efforts, with immigration arrests surging this month to the highest levels in this administration. I assume they felt that America just wouldn't notice that they were back in business, but we have.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“He said it over and over and over again. Turns out that the ``worst of the worst'' didn't fit in that category at all. Who were they? Some were U.S. citizens, legal residents, and people with no prior criminal history whatsoever--none. The administration brutally carried out this political theater by deploying military-grade weapons and using overwhelming displays of force that left communities and our country on edge. I saw it firsthand in the city of Chicago: Operation Midway Blitz. In our Hispanic neighborhoods, people were afraid to come out to go to church, afraid to send their kids to school. Were these criminals who were harboring their children from going to school? Hardly.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, roughly a year ago, President Trump made good on his ``MASS DEPORTATION NOW!'' promise--it was a campaign pledge--when he unleashed ICE into cities across the country to carry out his brutal immigration crackdown. In its wake, including in the city of Chicago, the so-called ``worst of the worst''--remember? The President said he was going after those who were rapists, murderers, terrorists, criminally insane, and predators. The ``worst of the worst''--that is who we are going after.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate20 July 2026Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) is necessarily absent.”
Senate16 July 2026Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) is neccessarily absent.”
Senate16 July 2026Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) is necessarily absent.”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“Yet again, we have another nominee who has been rewarded for his loyalty to the President with a lifetime appointment to the Federal bench. I urge my colleagues to oppose this nomination. ____________________”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Jeffrey T. Kuntz to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. While Judge Kuntz was under consideration to fill a judicial vacancy, he was also presiding over Alexander v. Trump, in which he authored the majority opinion upholding a lower court's ruling that Trump's defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board could continue. Judge Kuntz declined to directly answer my question about whether he made the defendants in Alexander aware, while the case was pending, that he was being considered by the plaintiff for a lifetime appointment to the bench. Instead, Judge Kuntz argued that he was not under consideration for this nomination, claiming that he did not interview with the White House until 2 weeks after the case had been decided.”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Gallego) is necessarily absent.”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote at noon now begin immediately.”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate15 July 2026Source ↗
“No excuses--we can do it this year. So I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to set up the process, the procedure, to bring it to the floor and have alternative substitutes for Social Security's future offered for consideration, for debate, and for a vote. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and finally kick-start the process of tackling this important issue. We will be working to pass this measure before we depart for the August recess. Is it a long shot? Maybe it is. But I think, when we understand the gravity of the challenge and the important responsibility we shoulder when we accepted this position as Senators, we will understand that we have to rise to that challenge. The eight of us--four Democrats, four Republicans--are willing to step up and say: Let's move forward. Let's not be afraid to legislate.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“I will note that the senior Senator from Ohio, a Republican, and the senior Senator from Massachusetts, a Democrat, recently shared their idea to shore up the program, a bipartisan plan. They may offer an amendment to do just that. Congress has no shortage of ideas; we simply have a lack of will on both the left and the right. Many stakeholders would rather wait for that perfect political moment. Well, that is a mistake. I worry that moment will never come, and Americans will suffer because of that calculation. The PROMISE Act finally creates a pathway for those ideas to receive the consideration they deserve. Americans sent us to Congress not to observe the problems but to solve the problems, and that is what I am trying to do with the PROMISE Act. There is no greater long-term challenge before Congress than preserving Social Security.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“You bring your best idea and the Parliamentarian looks at it and says there is proof here that this has at least 50 years of solvency for Social Security, you can offer this amendment, Senator. Give it your best. Members would be able to offer substitute proposals provided that it is at least 50 years of Social Security solvency. Let me say it another way. Every Member with a serious proposal for the most important social program in America would have the opportunity to bring their idea to the table, to the floor, and get a vote. That is so rare around here. It restores the Senate to debating, amending, and voting under regular order--compared to what we see today. Many of my colleagues have been working on proposals for a number of years. Many are broadly popular.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“We create an opportunity for alternative plans to be offered, and the one with the most votes--as long as it gets 60 votes in the Senate--the one with the most votes will prevail and will be the work product of the Senate on Social Security. Our legislation does not lower the 60-vote threshold of the Senate, nor does it predetermine any specific outcome. It may not work. We may not be able to put together any bill that gets 60 votes. But goodness gracious, we were sent here to try, weren't we? It simply guarantees that the American people, through their elected representatives, are finally going to have an open, transparent debate. I have gone to Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle and said: What we want to do is give you your day in court, give you your day in the Senate.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“It seeks to create a fair, bipartisan process to ensure Congress finally debates and votes on the future of Social Security. Under our proposal, the independent and bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board would collect public input and send a proposal to Congress that would keep the trust fund for Social Security solvent for 50 years at least. That would kick-start a process in both the House and the Senate to do something we rarely, rarely do around here. It is called legislating--writing a law, passing a law. Under our bill, Congress would have the opportunity to hold hearings, offer amendments, debate competing proposals, and ultimately vote on them. You say at this point: OK, Senator Durbin. What is this plan to save Social Security? That is the beauty of this proposal.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“It would force many seniors to choose between purchasing groceries, paying their utility bills, or filling their prescriptions. Honest to goodness, it is that basic. Seventy million Americans, including seniors and people with disabilities, rely on Social Security to afford the basics in life: food, medication, housing, utilities, and so many other things. In my home State of Illinois, more than 2 million people receive Social Security. Twenty percent of Illinois seniors rely on Social Security for virtually all of their income. That is it, that Social Security check. If Congress sits on its hands and does nothing to respond to this crisis, millions of Americans will be expected to make ends meet with fewer and fewer dollars each month.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Social Security is the bedrock promise of secure retirement and has been for over 90 years in America. Americans pay into the system throughout their careers of hard work, and come the time, that same program was supposed to be there to give them peace of mind when they seek retirement. Well, we know we have 6 short years to achieve that. What is going to happen at the end of that 6-year period? The Board of advisers tells us Social Security will only be able to pay 78 percent of benefits. Translate that, Durbin. Put it in English. That means the average senior citizen faces monthly--monthly--benefit cuts of $450--$450 a month cut from Social Security. For some, that is quite an inconvenience. For others, that is quite a disaster.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“To my knowledge, not a single Member of Congress lost reelection over that vote. People said: We had to do it. There was no question about it. It was a tough vote, but it was the right vote. It was 1983. Fifty years of solvency--where does it take you? To 2033. And what is the situation we were just told? This program that we value so much is going to last until the end of 2032. It worked. Fifty years of changes worked. Now the question is basically this: Can we respond with the same bipartisan effort to buy 50 years more of solvency in Social Security? I think we can. Social Security unable to make its payments in 2032 is an alarm bell. It is a call to action for Congress, both political parties--not just Democrats but Republicans as well.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Well, they came in and said: There is news for you, new Congressman. Social Security is about to go broke. The year was 1983, and we could see in the short term, Social Security unable to make its benefit payments. That would have been a disaster in 1983. We rose to the occasion. We had a Republican President, Ronald Reagan. We had a Democratic House of Representatives with Tip O'Neill. We set out to write a change in Social Security that would save it so it could keep making payments. Well, it took a long time, it took several months, but we got it done, and we passed it. Our goal was to buy 50 years of solvency for Social Security, make changes to the program so that it would last, keep paying its benefits as promised for 50 years. That was 1983. I voted for it. Democrats and Republicans all voted for it.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Certainly, more Americans have participated in Social Security than almost every other program. And they should. They earned it. They worked for it. They were promised. The promise should be kept. How is Social Security doing? Well, that is why I am standing here before you today. Last month, the Social Security Board of Trustees released an alarming report about the status of Social Security's finances. That Board found that Social Security will be unable to make full payments to eligible Americans by 2032. That is not that far away--6 years. This is alarming, and it is a call to arms to Congress. I was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982. Scared to death that I was going to be a one-term Congressman, I was looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes to see what was going to knock me out of my perch there.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Because many people, despite working hard their whole lives, doing their best to save money, ended up almost penniless when they retired, when they were forced to quit working. Those were the days when Grandma and Grandpa moved into the spare bedroom in your house. If that didn't happen to you, ask your father or even grandfather--they will remember those times. So Franklin Roosevelt said: Let's create a pension system so that after you retire, there will be some money coming in. You pay into it all your working life. When you reach the age of retirement, you get a benefit from it. They called it Social Security. It was passed into law in 1935. It made its first payment 5 years later in 1940. I think it has become arguably the most important social program in America.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, I would like to speak on a separate topic. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt decided to try something. The idea was to create a pension plan for every American. Why?”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“No excuses--we can do it this year. So I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to set up the process, the procedure, to bring it to the floor and have alternative substitutes for Social Security's future offered for consideration, for debate, and for a vote. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and finally kick-start the process of tackling this important issue. We will be working to pass this measure before we depart for the August recess. Is it a long shot? Maybe it is. But I think, when we understand the gravity of the challenge and the important responsibility we shoulder when we accepted this position as Senators, we will understand that we have to rise to that challenge. The eight of us--four Democrats, four Republicans--are willing to step up and say: Let's move forward. Let's not be afraid to legislate.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“I will note that the senior Senator from Ohio, a Republican, and the senior Senator from Massachusetts, a Democrat, recently shared their idea to shore up the program, a bipartisan plan. They may offer an amendment to do just that. Congress has no shortage of ideas; we simply have a lack of will on both the left and the right. Many stakeholders would rather wait for that perfect political moment. Well, that is a mistake. I worry that moment will never come, and Americans will suffer because of that calculation. The PROMISE Act finally creates a pathway for those ideas to receive the consideration they deserve. Americans sent us to Congress not to observe the problems but to solve the problems, and that is what I am trying to do with the PROMISE Act. There is no greater long-term challenge before Congress than preserving Social Security.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“You bring your best idea and the Parliamentarian looks at it and says there is proof here that this has at least 50 years of solvency for Social Security, you can offer this amendment, Senator. Give it your best. Members would be able to offer substitute proposals provided that it is at least 50 years of Social Security solvency. Let me say it another way. Every Member with a serious proposal for the most important social program in America would have the opportunity to bring their idea to the table, to the floor, and get a vote. That is so rare around here. It restores the Senate to debating, amending, and voting under regular order--compared to what we see today. Many of my colleagues have been working on proposals for a number of years. Many are broadly popular.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“We create an opportunity for alternative plans to be offered, and the one with the most votes--as long as it gets 60 votes in the Senate--the one with the most votes will prevail and will be the work product of the Senate on Social Security. Our legislation does not lower the 60-vote threshold of the Senate, nor does it predetermine any specific outcome. It may not work. We may not be able to put together any bill that gets 60 votes. But goodness gracious, we were sent here to try, weren't we? It simply guarantees that the American people, through their elected representatives, are finally going to have an open, transparent debate. I have gone to Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle and said: What we want to do is give you your day in court, give you your day in the Senate.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“It seeks to create a fair, bipartisan process to ensure Congress finally debates and votes on the future of Social Security. Under our proposal, the independent and bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board would collect public input and send a proposal to Congress that would keep the trust fund for Social Security solvent for 50 years at least. That would kick-start a process in both the House and the Senate to do something we rarely, rarely do around here. It is called legislating--writing a law, passing a law. Under our bill, Congress would have the opportunity to hold hearings, offer amendments, debate competing proposals, and ultimately vote on them. You say at this point: OK, Senator Durbin. What is this plan to save Social Security? That is the beauty of this proposal.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“It would force many seniors to choose between purchasing groceries, paying their utility bills, or filling their prescriptions. Honest to goodness, it is that basic. Seventy million Americans, including seniors and people with disabilities, rely on Social Security to afford the basics in life: food, medication, housing, utilities, and so many other things. In my home State of Illinois, more than 2 million people receive Social Security. Twenty percent of Illinois seniors rely on Social Security for virtually all of their income. That is it, that Social Security check. If Congress sits on its hands and does nothing to respond to this crisis, millions of Americans will be expected to make ends meet with fewer and fewer dollars each month.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Social Security is the bedrock promise of secure retirement and has been for over 90 years in America. Americans pay into the system throughout their careers of hard work, and come the time, that same program was supposed to be there to give them peace of mind when they seek retirement. Well, we know we have 6 short years to achieve that. What is going to happen at the end of that 6-year period? The Board of advisers tells us Social Security will only be able to pay 78 percent of benefits. Translate that, Durbin. Put it in English. That means the average senior citizen faces monthly--monthly--benefit cuts of $450--$450 a month cut from Social Security. For some, that is quite an inconvenience. For others, that is quite a disaster.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“To my knowledge, not a single Member of Congress lost reelection over that vote. People said: We had to do it. There was no question about it. It was a tough vote, but it was the right vote. It was 1983. Fifty years of solvency--where does it take you? To 2033. And what is the situation we were just told? This program that we value so much is going to last until the end of 2032. It worked. Fifty years of changes worked. Now the question is basically this: Can we respond with the same bipartisan effort to buy 50 years more of solvency in Social Security? I think we can. Social Security unable to make its payments in 2032 is an alarm bell. It is a call to action for Congress, both political parties--not just Democrats but Republicans as well.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Well, they came in and said: There is news for you, new Congressman. Social Security is about to go broke. The year was 1983, and we could see in the short term, Social Security unable to make its benefit payments. That would have been a disaster in 1983. We rose to the occasion. We had a Republican President, Ronald Reagan. We had a Democratic House of Representatives with Tip O'Neill. We set out to write a change in Social Security that would save it so it could keep making payments. Well, it took a long time, it took several months, but we got it done, and we passed it. Our goal was to buy 50 years of solvency for Social Security, make changes to the program so that it would last, keep paying its benefits as promised for 50 years. That was 1983. I voted for it. Democrats and Republicans all voted for it.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗
“Certainly, more Americans have participated in Social Security than almost every other program. And they should. They earned it. They worked for it. They were promised. The promise should be kept. How is Social Security doing? Well, that is why I am standing here before you today. Last month, the Social Security Board of Trustees released an alarming report about the status of Social Security's finances. That Board found that Social Security will be unable to make full payments to eligible Americans by 2032. That is not that far away--6 years. This is alarming, and it is a call to arms to Congress. I was elected to the House of Representatives in 1982. Scared to death that I was going to be a one-term Congressman, I was looking over my shoulder every 5 minutes to see what was going to knock me out of my perch there.”
Senate14 July 2026Source ↗