[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 16 (Thursday, January 26, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY IN A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

  (Mr. BRYANT of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BRYANT of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today we will take up the balanced 
budget amendment and I am one Democrat who supports an amendment. But I 
support an amendment that protects Social Security. There is no reason 
why we cannot pass a balanced budget amendment that still maintains the 
guarantee to senior citizens that Social Security will not be touched.
  We have heard some of these Republicans raise questions about why we 
are talking about Social Security. I will tell Members why. It is 
because you fellows elected a Speaker of the House who has called for 
abolishing Social Security. The Republican Speaker of the House, Newt 
Gingrich, in 1986 called for abolishing Social Security and turning it 
into some kind of a mandatory IRA program, and I am quoting from the 
Atlanta Constitution, November 1986.
  Also because you Republicans elected a majority leader, Dick Armey, 
who did the same thing. He cosponsored a special provision for a 
mandatory retirement account that was supposed to substitute for Social 
Security. He also spoke out a few years ago about the fact that we 
never should have started Social Security in the first place.
  Senior citizens have a good reason to be afraid of what Republicans 
are going to do to Social Security. Today when we vote for an amendment 
to balance the budget, we ought to vote for a provision to protect 
Social Security.

                          ____________________