Lowey To Visit Rye Today, Vows to Protect Social Security

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, will "reiterate her commitment to protecting Social Security benefits for older Americans, survivors and individuals with disabilities" when she meets with local constituents this morning in Rye.

Lowey will visit the Rye Brook Senior Center at 11 a.m. Today's date is significant in the history of Social Security because the first checks were issued on Jan. 31, 1940. (The program began three years earlier, but did not issue monthly checks to recipients until 1940.)

In the more than 70 years since, it's been alternately praised, criticized as a Ponzi scheme and become a hotbutton issue during election years. Many seniors depend on the checks as part of their fixed incomes, and Lowey will talk to local seniors about her efforts to preserve the program.

In 1940, there were 222,000 Social Security beneficiaries; today that number is more than 50 million. The program has paid out more than 11 trillion since its inception.

The is located at 32 Geribaldi Pl. in Rye Brook.