Eighty-nine years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, providing for a new federally administered insurance program for retirees.

Five years later, on Jan. 31, 1940, the first monthly Social Security retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont. The check was for $22.54. Miss Fuller, a retired legal secretary, started collecting benefits at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old.

Social Security has been a promise to our country’s workers for generations to allow them to retire with dignity after decades of hard work. Today, residents of California’s Fourth District receive a total of $286 million per month in Social Security benefits.

Those benefits deliver financial security to retirees and disabled Californians. But Social Security’s impact doesn’t stop there. Those dollars go into our local economy, supporting our businesses and banks and enriching our entire community.

A recent proposal by the Republican Study Committee in Congress takes aim at Social Security. In it, conservative lawmakers suggest cutting the program by over $1.5 trillion, reducing disability benefits, and raising the retirement age to 69.

I’m against those extreme measures.

My colleagues who want to cut the program and raise the retirement age are scaring Americans into believing it’s our only option to save a failing Social Security. This is nonsense. Social Security isn’t failing.

Social Security is 100 percent solvent for the next decade. After that, simple changes can be made to ensure it remains strong and will provide retirement security for another 89 years.

That’s why I’ve co-sponsored legislation led by my colleague Rep. John Larson (D-CT) to ensure Social Security continues to deliver full benefits to everyone without making unnecessary cuts or raising the retirement age.

Social Security is a cornerstone of American life. On the program’s 89th birthday, I’m recommitting to strengthening Social Security so it can continue to serve Americans through 2100 and beyond.

Congressman Mike Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.