(Washington, DC) Today, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-19) sent a letter to Commissioner Michael Astrue of the Social Security Administration expressing his concern over his recent decision to suspend issuance of paper Social Security statements. The Social Security Administration began mailing paper statements in 1999 to help American workers track the benefits they earn and plan for their retirement. While the Social Security Administration plans to eventually launch an online benefit statement system, the immediate suspension of paper statements will sever the only link that many elderly and low-income beneficiaries have to the program.

"As Florida's 19th district is home to over 200,000 Social Security beneficiaries, I represent a constituency greatly affected by even the slightest changes to the program," said Congressman Deutch. "Many of my elderly constituents do not have access to the Internet, nor do they have the proficiency needed to retrieve statements online. With 100 million Americans lacking access to the Internet, preserving paper earnings statements is critical to ensuring they too can have confidence in the benefits they earn through Social Security."

A copy of the letter is available for download here.