Senator Brian Schatz

Yeah. Yeah, I'm excited to be a part of this. You know, when I ran for my first election in the United States Senate, I made Social Security my signature issue. And it's, you know, for two reasons. First, 300,000 people in Hawaii depend on Social Security. And the vast majority of those people, it's either their only source of income or their primary source of income.

The amount of Social Security that people receive in Hawaii, the average amount is just under $2,000. That is less than than a two-bedroom apartment costs in the city of Honolulu. So it's just literally not enough. And the idea that the way we're going to find a balanced budget is on the backs of seniors who have paid into this program is preposterous to me.

The amount of Social Security that people receive in Hawaii, the average amount is just under $2,000. That is less than than a two-bedroom apartment costs in the city of Honolulu. So it's just literally not enough. And the idea that the way we're going to find a balanced budget is on the backs of seniors who have paid into this program is preposterous to me.

The amount of Social Security that people receive in Hawaii, the average amount is just under $2,000. That is less than than a two-bedroom apartment costs in the city of Honolulu. So it's just literally not enough. And the idea that the way we're going to find a balanced budget is on the backs of seniors who have paid into this program is preposterous to me.

So we're actually rolling this out in a couple of hours with Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden and others. to not just fight back on the kind of communications level, which I think is very important, but also to troubleshoot what they're doing as a kind of first step as a trial balloon to try to eviscerate the program, and that is to make the service delivery suck. right?

So we're actually rolling this out in a couple of hours with Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden and others. to not just fight back on the kind of communications level, which I think is very important, but also to troubleshoot what they're doing as a kind of first step as a trial balloon to try to eviscerate the program, and that is to make the service delivery suck. right?

So we're actually rolling this out in a couple of hours with Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden and others. to not just fight back on the kind of communications level, which I think is very important, but also to troubleshoot what they're doing as a kind of first step as a trial balloon to try to eviscerate the program, and that is to make the service delivery suck. right?

Closing down offices, reducing the number of people available to answer the phone, requiring that you, but first of all, closing down offices and then requiring that you physically show up in those offices means that people like my father-in-law, he's in his 80s, he's got COPD. He was actually social security disability before he was social security for the elderly.

Closing down offices, reducing the number of people available to answer the phone, requiring that you, but first of all, closing down offices and then requiring that you physically show up in those offices means that people like my father-in-law, he's in his 80s, he's got COPD. He was actually social security disability before he was social security for the elderly.

Closing down offices, reducing the number of people available to answer the phone, requiring that you, but first of all, closing down offices and then requiring that you physically show up in those offices means that people like my father-in-law, he's in his 80s, he's got COPD. He was actually social security disability before he was social security for the elderly.

He's legally blind, although functional around the house. He can't go to a social security office. Right. You know, and I'm home whenever I'm home. I could take him. But not everybody has those resources. And then you have language access problems and all the rest of it.

He's legally blind, although functional around the house. He can't go to a social security office. Right. You know, and I'm home whenever I'm home. I could take him. But not everybody has those resources. And then you have language access problems and all the rest of it.

He's legally blind, although functional around the house. He can't go to a social security office. Right. You know, and I'm home whenever I'm home. I could take him. But not everybody has those resources. And then you have language access problems and all the rest of it.

So if people can't access the Social Security program, then Social Security is being cut even without actually enacting those cuts. But I do think honestly, I think that's where they want to land. I think they want to cut Social Security. But the first step to cutting Social Security is to get everybody to believe two things. First, that it sucks, right?

So if people can't access the Social Security program, then Social Security is being cut even without actually enacting those cuts. But I do think honestly, I think that's where they want to land. I think they want to cut Social Security. But the first step to cutting Social Security is to get everybody to believe two things. First, that it sucks, right?

So if people can't access the Social Security program, then Social Security is being cut even without actually enacting those cuts. But I do think honestly, I think that's where they want to land. I think they want to cut Social Security. But the first step to cutting Social Security is to get everybody to believe two things. First, that it sucks, right?

You can't get your program, you know, you can't get on the phone and start to have people think of it like the DMV, where it's a big pain, it's a big bureaucracy, it doesn't work. And then second, and they do this especially to young people, to get people to believe that Social Security will not exist in the future. That is bullshit. Does it have some fiscal challenges, like in the 2030 Sure.

You can't get your program, you know, you can't get on the phone and start to have people think of it like the DMV, where it's a big pain, it's a big bureaucracy, it doesn't work. And then second, and they do this especially to young people, to get people to believe that Social Security will not exist in the future. That is bullshit. Does it have some fiscal challenges, like in the 2030 Sure.

You can't get your program, you know, you can't get on the phone and start to have people think of it like the DMV, where it's a big pain, it's a big bureaucracy, it doesn't work. And then second, and they do this especially to young people, to get people to believe that Social Security will not exist in the future. That is bullshit. Does it have some fiscal challenges, like in the 2030 Sure.

But like these are absolutely from a numerical standpoint, not difficult to solve. But the right wing has gone out of its way to cause everybody probably under 40 to think this program will not be here for me in the future. That's bullshit. That's a question of political will. And as long as I'm around, we're going to fight to keep Social Security.