[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    H.R. 4277, THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION REFORM ACT OF 1994

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to express my support for the 
Social Security Administration Reform Act. I am pleased to be a 
cosponsor of this reform package and believe that these reforms are 
both necessary and overdue.
  Mr. President, Social Security is a sacred compact between the 
Federal Government and the citizens of the United States. This program 
asks for a commitment from American workers to contribute a portion of 
their earnings to a trust fund, and in return promises that the 
Government will provide income assistance after they have retired or 
become disabled. This idea was revolutionary when proposed by President 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the New Deal, but Social Security 
has now been a cornerstone of our Government's social programs for over 
50 years.
  While the Social Security system has been one of our more successful 
Government programs, clearly the system has room for improvement. We 
have an obligation to do anything that we can to make the Social 
Security system more efficient and more responsive to the needs of the 
American people. Many Americans, particularly senior citizens, count on 
the sound administration of this system, and we must provide them with 
the most efficient organizational structure possible. We must make 
certain that their benefits and the trust fund are protected from 
waste, fraud, political pressures, or budgetary maneuvering.
  Establishing a Social Security system independent of the Department 
of Health and Human Services is one way that we can improve the system 
and further these goals.
  Mr. President, an agency as large as the Social Security 
Administration is simply too big to be included under the ambit of 
another agency, in this case the Department of Health and Human 
Services. The Social Security Administration employs 64,000 workers in 
about 1,300 offices nationwide. Its budget is over $300 billion this 
year, which is larger than the budget of the Department of Defense. It 
is the ninth largest agency in the Federal Government.
  An independent Social Security Administration will be able to manage 
its own resources and thus will be stronger and more accountable. For 
HHS the principal concern of recent years has been health, and 
rightfully so. Our senior citizens, however, deserve oversight and 
decisionmaking for the Social Security system that functions with the 
interests of current and future beneficiaries as its foremost concern. 
An independent Social Security Administration will be more responsive 
to the needs of the system and more accountable for its actions. An 
independent Social Security Administration will also be insulated from 
partisan political pressures and better able to protect Social Security 
benefits and the retirement of hard-working Americans.
  In conclusion, Mr. President, I am pleased to support the Social 
Security Administration Reform Act. The creation of an independent 
Social Security Administration is long overdue, as are other reforms in 
this bill. I am pleased that the Senate has provided final approval of 
this measure, and urge the House of Representatives to pass the 
conference report and send the bill to the President for his signature.

                          ____________________