[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 49 (Tuesday, April 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRESS SHOULD MOVE AGGRESSIVELY TO PUT SOCIAL SECURITY FIRST

  (Mr. SMITH of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, a word on Social Security. Today 
the Social Security trustees released the annual report on their new 
projections when Social Security runs short of money to pay benefits. 
Because of the economic growth, because of the good economy with more 
jobs and higher incomes, they are now projecting that we are going to 
have an extra year or so before Social Security has less tax revenue 
coming in than is required to pay benefits. We still have a very, very 
serious problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the House and the Senate, I urge 
the President not to use this as an excuse to delay and put off and not 
deal with the serious problems of Social Security. The current good 
economy is an opportunity to move ahead with long term solutions giving 
more flexibility for transition.
  Mr. Speaker, Social Security is one of the important problems that is 
facing us right now with an unfunded liability of over $3 trillion. Let 
us move ahead aggressively with a solution and really put Social 
Security first.

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