“Sixty-three years ago today, a retired legal secretary named Ida May Fuller made history by becoming the first American to receive a monthly Social Security retirement check,” Ross said.  “It was only $22.24, but after a lifetime of hard work, it meant so much more to her.  Over the past 63 years, Social Security has led the way in reducing poverty among America’s seniors and providing workers with a foundation for retirement security in their golden years.  

“Today’s atmosphere of economic uncertainty underscores the crucial role that Social Security plays in retirement security.  As we watch and worry about our 401(k) and pension accounts, we remember just how important it is to maintain one component of retirement income that we can count on no matter what.  When my grandfather died in 1961, my grandmother first learned how to drive a car.  She earned her GED, moved to Little Rock and went to nursing school.  She came back to our hometown and worked tirelessly for about 20 years as a nurse at the local hospital.  My grandmother did not have the benefit of a big retirement plan.  She is 91 now and has lived from Social Security check to Social Security check.  Social Security has been there for aging Americans, like my grandmother, for more than sixty years. I want to see the politicians in Washington stop raiding the Social Security trust fund.  

“This year’s anniversary comes at a time when Social Security is under attack by some who would replace the program’s guaranteed monthly benefits with a privatized system of individual accounts invested in the stock market.  Privatization would place guaranteed monthly benefits at risk, leaving them to the whims of the stock market.  Our seniors deserve more than that.  That’s why on this anniversary, as we begin the work of the 108th Congress, I am reaffirming my pledge to preserve the promise of Social Security and to fight any proposals that would break that trust.”