U.S. Rep. Richard Neal visited the Social Security Administration in Springfield to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the program.
Reminder Publishing photos by Ryan Feyre
SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal called Social Security one of the most important achievements in American history during a recent celebration of the program’s 90th anniversary.
The proclamation comes several months after the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” a statement that the Springfield Democrat vehemently derides.
“When I heard Elon Musk say it was a Ponzi scheme, that implies that it’s illicit,” Neal said. “I don’t know where America would be without the guarantee of Social Security as an earned benefit.”
Coined as a “universal earned cash benefit” by the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Social Security offers economic security and dignity to millions of retirees, people with disabilities and surviving spouses and children.
In Massachusetts, nearly one in five residents — more than 1.3 million people — receive Social Security payments, injecting $28.4 billion into the state’s economy every year. According to Neal’s office, that includes 185,955 residents in the First District who receive $328 million in monthly benefits.
Despite its importance, the program has entered an era of volatility since President Donald Trump returned to office in January. Neal said the Social Security Administration’s decision earlier this year to cut staffing by 7,000 has caused longer wait times for people seeking benefits.
“There are some notable delays now,” Neal said. “And that’s the result of the erroneous argument that somehow there was not efficiency in Social Security.”
There’s also the issue of the program’s impending insolvency, which has been a topic of discussion in the news over the last several months. According to a report earlier this summer from the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, Social Security will only be able to pay 81% of its benefits starting in 2034, one year earlier than was originally projected.
Neal, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee — which deals with Social Security — said that Congress is currently working on a plan to add solvency to the system as the country approaches that date. In the meantime, he assured people that Social Security is not going broke and noted that the country faced greater challenges with the program in 1983.
“If we did nothing in eight years, we’d still pay 75 to 80% of benefits,” Neal said. “But we understand that our obligation is to make sure we keep 100% of benefits and also to make sure that those cost-of-living increases, as the Department of Labor ascertains, will be met as well.”
The 90-year celebration of the program took place at the Social Security Administration office on Bond Street in Springfield. Signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935, the Social Security Act was a landmark piece of legislation, according to Neal. Today, the SSA delivers payments to more than 67 million Americans each month and lifts 22 million people out of poverty.
But concerns have been raised across the country about the possibility of privatizing Social Security. Neal, however, said those talks have been “vacuous,” and not a reality.
“Some of my colleagues in Congress over the years, they’ve always talked about a privatization plan for Social Security,” Neal said. “In all my years, there’s never been a vote on one of those plans.”
Neal shared other challenges Social Security is currently facing during Trump’s presidency. He said that undocumented immigrants are paying $22 billion a year into the program, even though many of them are unlikely to draw the benefit.
“It’s birth rates, it’s cutbacks in immigration and it’s also a tending reality that we’re living by,” Neal said. “So, if you were doing this in 1900, life expectancy was about 47 years old for a male. Today, it’s like 78. So, there are some realities, and we should be able to make those adjustments.”
Shawn Duhamel, the CEO of Mass. Retirees Association, called Social Security a “cornerstone of retirement security in America.” He touted Neal and former President Joe Biden’s efforts in ending the windfall elimination provision.
He said that Biden’s Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law this past January, has benefited approximately 120,000 Massachusetts retirees and has injected $940 million into the Massachusetts economy through retroactive payments alone.
He called the bill “life-changing” and, like Neal, highlighted the importance of keeping Social Security intact for generations to come.
“Social Security is in danger,” Duhamel said. “It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that that program is as successful for the next 90 years as it has been for the previous 90 years.”
