[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16459-S16460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE ECONOMY AND SOCIAL SECURITY

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, the Senator from Wyoming is now and always 
has been one of the most colorful presenters on the floor of the 
Senate. He has also been an excellent Senator. I occasionally find much 
to agree with him about. This morning, I found several areas in which 
we disagree. I always find it interesting that it upsets some when you 
come to the floor of the Senate and talk about the economic system in 
this country and who is doing well and who is not, because the 
implication of that, they say, is, if you point out who is doing well, 
it is class warfare.
  I pointed out on the floor of the Senate this morning that the 
average worker in this country, if you had a line of all Americans from 
the richest to the poorest folks, the average person makes about 
$26,000 a year and in 15 years has lost $100 a month of income. That is 
what I pointed out. That is the truth.
  I also pointed out that those in the top 1 percent in America are 
doing very well. I do not regret that. Good for them. The incomes of 
the top 1 percent have increased in a 16-year period by 79 percent to 
an average of $576,000 a year. I wish everyone could experience that. 
That is my point. I wish the fruits of this economy could be available 
to everyone.
  It is not class warfare to point out who is benefiting and who is 
not. Our job is to try to figure out how we help those who are not.
  The fact is, productivity in this country is going up, so the average 
workers out there are doing their part. Corporate profits are going up. 
The stock market is going up. But guess what? Wages are going down in 
real terms, and we better start caring about that as a country. We 
better start doing something about it.
  When someone raises the question, we better stop saying class 
warfare. It is not constructive. Let us talk about this economy, who 
wins and who loses, who is rewarded and who is not and how do we lift 
the middle-income families in this country and give them opportunity, 
provide jobs with good wages.
  What the middle-income people see is lower paychecks, lower wages, 
and their jobs being shipped overseas, all by the same people who in 
this upper 1 percent, by the way, are getting million-dollar increases 
a year in salary because they are downsizing and shipping their jobs 
out of this country. Can I provide the facts for that? You bet I can. I 
can tell you who is doing it, when and why and how much they are being 
rewarded for moving jobs overseas.
  Well, enough about that. But I hope we can have a discussion one day 
on the floor of the Senate about this economic system and trade policy 
and what we ought to do to address these issues.
  The Senator from Wyoming began by talking about Social Security and 
used the word ``bankrupt'' generously. The Social Security System is 
not going bankrupt. It does no service to the American people to try to 
scare people about the Social Security System and so-called bankruptcy.
  In the year 2029, the Social Security system will be out of money. 
The Senator is correct about that. Between now and then, we will have 
yearly surpluses, until about the year 2013. So about 34 years from 
now, unless we make some adjustments, we will have a problem. We will 
make adjustments. We have in the past and will in the future. The fact 
is that our responsibility is to make adjustments.
  The Senator from Wyoming said the Republicans are doing what has 
always been done--that is, using the Social Security surpluses as part 
of the revenue of the operating budget. The best I can say is that the 
Senator says this is business as usual. I guess it is. I thought this 
was about reform and change. The Senator says this is business as 
usual. It has always been done, so we are going to keep doing it.
  In 1983, I say to the Senator from Wyoming, I was on the Ways and 
Means Committee. I voted on and worked on that Social Security reform 
package. If the Senator will go back to the markup form, I offered an 
amendment that day. It was on the same thing I speak about today--that 
is, you should not collect payroll taxes, which are, by nature, 
regressive, promise people it is going to go into a trust fund and then 
pull it over into the operating budget and use it. That is dishonest, 
and I said that 12 years ago; dishonest, I say again on the floor of 
the Senate today. Am I a Johnny-come-lately on this issue? You better 
believe I am not. I have talked about this for 12 years.
  This is dishonest budgeting. It was by Democrats, and it is by 
Republicans. It is dishonest and it ought to stop. The Senator said we 
have always done these things. But nobody ever did what was done last 
Friday. I hope, and will wait today for somebody to put in the Record 
what was done late Friday night, taking $12 billion out of the Social 
Security accounts in the reconciliation bill in order to fund other 
parts of the bill. It has never been done. It is a violation of the 
law, and the only reason it was done was because of the language we 
used, ``notwithstanding any other provision of law.''
  I challenge anybody on the floor of the Senate today to come 
demonstrate that this has been done before. It has never been done 
before. It should not have been done on Friday, and it represents phony 
budgeting. Everybody in this Chamber knows it. So when people say, we 
are just doing what has always been done--not true. Not true.
  There is plenty to talk about on Medicare and Social Security. I 
happen to think both of these programs have advanced this country's 
interests. Both programs need adjustments. There is no question about 
that. I am willing to work with the Senator from Wyoming, and others, 
in sensible ways to think through in the long-term what we do about 
these issues. But I do not think it is wrong or unreasonable for us to 
ask questions about the priorities of cutting $270 billion from what is 
needed in Medicare in the next 7 years and then deciding to cut taxes, 
especially after we say to you, well, at least limit the tax cut to 
those below a quarter-million dollars a year and back off on the 
adjustments you intend to make for some of the poorest of the poor, who 
rely on Medicaid and Medicare. If we are told we cannot do that because 
that is not our priority, then we understand we have very different 
priorities.
  I am not alleging that you all do not care about Social Security or 
Medicare. I think there are some who do not. I think there are some who 
never believed in it, who never wanted it and, even today, if given a 
chance, would vote, probably in secret, to get rid of both. The fact 
is, I happen to think 

[[Page S 16460]]

both have advanced this country's interests and helped us to be a 
better country. I think when we, as Democrats and Republicans, are 
required to make adjustments in these programs, we would be well to 
make adjustments without putting them in a vehicle where we have 
decided, also, before we balance the budget, to provide a significant 
tax cut. I understand there is even reason to disagree on the tax cut. 
I think working families deserve a lower tax burden. I would like to 
see us do the first job first: Balance the budget, and decide after we 
have done that job how we change the Tax Code and provide relief for 
working families.
  Mr. THOMAS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I think the time until 12 o'clock is set 
aside for discussion on this side of the aisle, to talk a little bit 
about what we have been doing over the last couple weeks, to talk about 
some of the heavy lifting going on--balancing the budget, strengthening 
Medicare, reforming welfare, and doing something to reduce the tax 
burden on middle-class Americans. We want to talk a little about moving 
to the negotiation table, so that what is being done here can be done 
to affect the American public.
  I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Georgia.

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