[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SOCIAL SECURITY GUARANTEE INITIATIVE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 2, 1999

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on behalf this 
resolution, which expresses our firm belief that we should work in a 
bipartisan manner, along with the President, to ensure that the 
benefits of social security will still be here for our future 
generations.
  This resolution is a compelling one because it recognizes the 
importance of the Social Security program to America. Social Security 
is the most successful anti-poverty program currently funded by our 
federal government. It currently helps support over 44 million people, 
many of whom depend on it as their sole source of income as they reach 
the age of retirement.
  Even for those who have pension plans and retirement accounts, social 
security monies are crucial. Many retirement plans do not include 
extended health care coverage, and even those that do rarely include 
dollars for prescription medication. For those people, social security 
keeps Older Americans from having to make the difficult choice between 
eating, and taking medication that is medically necessary for their 
life and well-being.
  The benefits of social security are even more crucial to women. This 
is because women tend to live longer than men, and because, as a whole, 
women work fewer years because they often must stay home part of their 
careers to help raise their families. Even for those women that manage 
to have long and full careers, most face one form or another of gender 
discrimination--which means they often have less money to put in the 
bank at the end of their work week.
  I am also happy to support this resolution because it recognizes the 
impact and importance of Social Security to the minority community. 
Like women, minorities rely more heavily on social security because 
they disproportionately earn less money, and have fewer benefits, than 
do white workers. As a result, minorities tend to struggle more with 
their families as they reach the age of retirement--a time where 
medical expenses tend to go up rather than down.
  For these reasons, preserving social security is simply the right 
thing to do for all of America. I look forward to working with all of 
you here in the House to enact a plan that will extend the life of this 
life-saving program another 30 years, and hope that together, we can 
resolve this issue for our children, and our children's children.

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