[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S753-S754]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GREGG:
  S. 221. A bill to amend the Social Security Act to require the 
Commissioner of Social Security to submit specific legislative 
recommendations to ensure the solvency of the Social Security trust 
funds; to the Committee on Finance.


                     social security act amendments

  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation which I now 
send to the desk.
  Mr. President, I am sure that my colleagues are familiar with the 
report recently released by the Social Security Advisory Council. That 
group, appointed by HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, was charged with 
making recommendations as to how to place our largest and most popular 
program--Social Security--on a stable and secure path for the 21st 
century. Their recommendations have accelerated an already vigorous 
debate concerning the eventual course of Social Security reform.
  As someone who is greatly concerned about the future of Social 
Security, let me offer my view that we cannot afford the kind of 
gridlock and partisanship in rescuing that program that we have seen in 
the Medicare debate. It is vitally important that all of us come 
together to address problems of retirement security in a bipartisan 
way--one that involves all of the important players in this debate--
both in Congress and within the administration.
  My legislation, Mr. President, would simply establish an additional 
safeguard for the solvency of the Social Security system on which so 
many American senior citizens depend. Specifically, it will require the 
Commissioner of Social Security--at the same time each year that the 
Social Security trustees report to Congress on the solvency of the 
Social Security system--to recommend those legislative actions which 
the Commissioner deems necessary to place the Social Security system in 
long-term actuarial balance.
  Mr. President, I believe that there is broad bipartisan consensus 
about certain aspects of Social Security. Certainly there is wide 
bipartisan support for the view that protecting the stability and 
solvency of the system should be among our highest national priorities. 
And, most of us recognize the stark fiscal realities facing the Social 
Security system. I refer to the fact that according to the Social 
Security trustees, beginning in the year 2012, the Social Security 
system will face annual operating deficits, meaning that there will 
then be inadequate revenues coming into the system to support current 
benefits. From that year onward--indeed for most of the 75-year period 
during which actuarial solvency is measured--there is an ever widening

[[Page S754]]

gap between the promises of Social Security and the means available to 
pay for them, unless we act to change the law.
  It is beyond those points of agreement, however, that our bipartisan 
consensus breaks down. Even though we all know that it will take 
bipartisan action to safeguard this system, the Social Security system 
could well become a sharpening focus of partisan political activity. 
Apparently the temptations here are simply too great for politicians to 
resist. It is the easier--though less responsible--course to ignore the 
problems within the system, and to take political advantage of those 
who seek to repair them.
  We thus find ourselves in a peculiar situation. Each year, the Social 
Security trustees send information to Congress about Social Security's 
troubled future, and call upon Congress to act to restore the system to 
long-term solvency. Yet, at the same time, the custodians of that 
system--indeed, the soon-departing Social Security Commissioner 
herself--remain utterly silent as to how this is to be done. It is 
astounding to me that an individual will again be placed in charge of 
this most enormous and vital Government program, and yet not be 
required under the law to forward proposals to keep it stable and 
secure.
  Toward the end of last year, the staff of the Budget Committee were 
briefed by representatives of the Social Security Administration as to 
how they were meeting their established performance goals under the 
Government Performance and Results Act. One of the goals established by 
the Social Security Administration was to improve public confidence in 
Social Security. Meanwhile, no recommendations are coming from the 
Commissioner of Social Security as to how to justify that confidence in 
the long term. It is long past time to repair this discontinuity.
  I believe that this legislation should not be controversial. It 
stands to elementary reason that it should be part and parcel of the 
duties inherent in the position of Social Security Commissioner, to 
make such recommendations as are necessary to protect the future of the 
Social Security system. I hope that Congress will act quickly, and will 
pass this legislation early in this session.
                                 ______