Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement in honor of the Eightieth Anniversary of the Social Security Act, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935:

“Before the enactment of Social Security, most Americans had to work for literally their entire adult lives or risk living a life of indigence – retirement was a luxury that only the wealthiest individuals were afforded. For the past eighty years, Social Security has been a strong foundation for millions of working Americans in their retirement, and the most effective program that we have to curb and prevent pervasive poverty. Today, Social Security protects twenty-two million Americans from poverty, including one million children, fifteen million older men and women, and six million adults under sixty-five years-of-age. I remain committed to supporting and fighting for the maintenance of Social Security in the next eighty years, to keep faith with the social compact between generations of Americans.”

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the House of Representatives, a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, as well as the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.