[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 25 (Monday, March 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1811-S1813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, people continually talk about using Social 
Security. ``Let's use Social Security until we balance the budget, and 
then after that we will not use it any more.''
  That argument says it all, Mr. President, because, if you use Social 
Security, it makes it pretty easy to balance the budget. If we want to 
really balance the budget let's do it the right way, the hard way, the 
honest way. Let's not use the surpluses--this year alone over $8 
billion. That is the easy way to balance the budget. But it is not the 
right way.
  Dorothy Ray from Reno, NV, wrote to me:

       I urge you to fight all attempts to cap, cut, tax, or 
     otherwise cut Social Security benefits and to focus on the 
     real causes of the Federal deficit. Social Security is an 
     earned entitlement that does not contribute 1 cent to the 
     Federal deficit. We workers and retirees and employers have 
     paid and continue to pay special taxes. We fund Social 
     Security. The Federal Government has no right to borrow our 
     Social Security and deplete all the reserves which we 
     contributed for this purpose. Please fight all attempts to 
     cut or rob us of our earned benefits.
           Sincerely,
                                                      Dorothy Ray.

  I heard also from Sparks, NV, from Bernice Murray. She wrote to me:


[[Page S1812]]


       Dear Mr. Reid. In reference to your stand on Social 
     Security I stand behind your views 100 percent. I have lived 
     in Nevada since 1946, and most of that time in Sparks. I am 
     72 years old. My husband just passed away January 17, '97. My 
     only income now is his Social Security. I agree with what you 
     are trying to accomplish, and please keep up the good work. 
     Us older Nevadans need you.

  Mr. President, not only do the older Nevadans need this, but all 
Nevadans. All Americans need this.
  The Social Security Program is for people over age 62 or 65 who are 
now receiving the benefit. But it is the benefit for future 
generations. All across America, as we speak, in certain specific 
regions there are huge amounts of money being spent on television, on 
radio, and in newspapers against people like Senator Reid from Nevada. 
These ads say, ``Why won't Reid support a balanced budget amendment?'' 
I say to those people that are spending these hundreds, thousands, and 
millions of dollars on these ads all over the country that I do support 
a balanced budget amendment. I just do not support theirs. I support 
mine, the one that excludes Social Security. This isn't some new-found 
religion for Senator Reid. I have been doing this. This is the 4th 
year. I have offered my amendment every year, and will continue to do 
so until we prevail because the people about whom I speak, Bernice 
Murray, Dorothy Ray, and others cannot afford hundreds of thousands of 
dollars in the State of Nevada to run ads. All they can do is write 
their letters hoping that right will prevail. It has so far. I hope it 
will continue.
  We need to balance the budget. We need to do it though, Mr. 
President, the right way. I have heard people say, ``We will never be 
able to balance the budget without using Social Security.'' Well, we 
can balance the budget without using Social Security. It is going to be 
harder, and we may not be able to do it by the year 2002. But we can do 
it. And, when we accomplish that, we will have prevailed in righting 
one of the biggest wrongs in the history of this country; that is, 
depleting these trust funds for purposes other than what the money was 
paid in for by employers and employees.
  For many people in America today, Social Security is the only money 
they get. Only 50 percent of America's workers have access to pensions. 
That does not count Social Security. Most people working in America, 
and especially women, have no hope of ever getting a pension. To 
enshrine in the Constitution any amendment that would guarantee to the 
American workers that these contributions are no longer going to be 
protected I believe is wrong.
  How much of an impact does Social Security make on the lives of 
Americans? Nationally, in December 1995, benefits were paid to about 44 
million Americans. This includes 27 million retired workers, about 5 
million widows, a few widowers, 4 million disabled workers, and more.
  The monthly average benefit paid to a Social Security retired worker 
is $720. A wife gets $354, because it usually is a wife at this stage. 
Most husbands have Social Security benefits. Wives have not up to this 
stage. It is changing in the future years.
  In the State of Nevada, we have about 229,000 people who receive 
Social Security benefits. Said another way, that is about 15 percent of 
the people in Nevada depend on Social Security for support. In Nevada, 
153,000 of these people are retired, 21,000 are widows, about 23,000 
are disabled, and then there are, of course, some children, about 
17,000 children, whose parents have been killed or died in some fashion 
who receive benefits.
  The average benefit in the State of Nevada is $5 a month more than 
the national average; $725 a month is what Nevadans get on an average 
from Social Security. For $725 a month, they are not able to pay for 
ads in the larger newspapers in Nevada, full-page ads at a cost of 
about $5,000. They are not going to be able to do that. Ads running in 
radio stations today alone will cost tens of thousands of dollars, and 
in television, no telling how much money.
  These people cannot pay for the ads, but the large corporations are 
helping pay for these ads or are paying for these ads. Why? Because 
they know, Mr. President, that if we balance the budget the right way 
and do not use Social Security benefits and we really want to balance 
the budget, they are probably going to have to chip in a few dollars or 
take longer or they are going to have to make more cuts. So they are 
willing to spend money up front to save them a few dollars.
  In the State of Nevada, $2.1 billion was paid into Social Security 
last year. Drawing out of that was far less than $2 billion--about $1.4 
billion. The rest went to surplus, the surplus the people in this body 
want to use to mask the deficit. I say they should not be able to do 
that. These moneys should be set aside for Social Security recipients.
  Social Security in every State plays a vital role. It is a program 
that keeps people off poverty. It gives people dignity. It is not only 
in Nevada. This is the way it is all across the country. In fact, the 
amendment I offered, which was defeated by a vote of 55 to 45, had two 
very courageous Republicans from different parts of the country who 
voted in favor of it. The senior Senator from Arizona voted for it; the 
senior Senator from Pennsylvania voted for it.
  In addition to that, we now have held up in the House the balanced 
budget amendment. Why? Because some very courageous sophomore 
Republicans are saying we will vote for a balanced budget amendment but 
we want to exclude Social Security benefits. My office has received 
some phone calls about people in this body on that side of the aisle 
who are now considering offering amendments of their own. I hope that 
there will be further thought given to that, that we will exclude 
Social Security from the calculations of the balanced budget amendment.
  Social Security is the major source of income for 63 percent of all 
the beneficiaries. For 63 percent of the people who draw Social 
Security benefits, that is all the money they get. It is for this group 
that I am most concerned and speak on their behalf today. They are not 
going to run ads in the newspapers. They are not going to be able to 
pay for television or radio ads. But their thoughts are just as 
important, their ideas are just as important as the people who are 
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get out the message 
that they want to be able to mask the deficit.
  Currently, about 90 percent of older households get Social Security 
benefits. Benefits keep about 15 million Americans above the poverty 
line and even more from near poverty. While this is nothing to be proud 
of, I think it is something we should reflect upon as to how much 
better we are doing. Today, 10.5 percent of our senior population falls 
below the poverty line.
  It was just a few years ago that we had poorhouses where people who 
had no money went. Most of the counties--the States helped a little 
bit--had poorhouses for these people. The difference between poorhouses 
and no poorhouses is this program we call Social Security.
  So I am concerned about approximately 44 million Americans and 
229,000 Nevadans who depend on this program to maintain their dignity. 
This is by no means the time to turn our backs on the success of this 
program or the citizens who rely on this program. We must listen to the 
people who tell us: balance the budget but do not do it using Social 
Security.
  The vast majority of Americans agree with my position in spite of the 
ads, in spite of the media blitz. The Wall Street Journal, the New York 
Times, NBC, CNN have all run polls showing that about 75 percent of the 
American people support balancing the budget but without using Social 
Security.
  Franklin Roosevelt said upon signing the Social Security act, ``We 
can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one 
hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have 
tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the 
average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against 
a poverty-ridden old age.''
  This statement, given in August 1935, was visionary because we have 
done just that. We have given dignity to the old of America. They do 
not have to live in poverty. You can see the impact of this program, 
which I have said on this floor is the most successful Social Security 
program in the history of the world. It is my hope that Members on both 
sides of the aisle will think long and hard about the impact of the 
balanced budget amendment on Social Security and vote accordingly.

[[Page S1813]]

  News accounts indicate that the Republican leadership is open to 
modifying the underlying amendment. I understand that as we speak some 
are shopping language they believe would address this issue. As long as 
they focus on Social Security, I am willing to do that. I have been 
very narrow in my advocacy on this floor. While I think some of the 
other ideas about capital budgeting, emergencies and the military are 
good, I am not willing to focus on those amendments. I want to focus on 
Social Security and the importance I think it plays in our society, and 
therefore I hope those who are shopping amendments will shop in a very 
narrow fashion and wind up supporting the amendment where we give 
continued dignity to the seniors of this country.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Roberts). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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