[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 149 (Thursday, October 28, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of ensuring the 
solvency of the Social Security program. Today, there are 44.4 million 
Americans who receive Social Security benefits. Over 4 million of these 
individuals reside in the State of California. Americans all over our 
Nation depend on this retirement benefit as a source of major income. 
This program is the principal source of retirement income for two-
thirds of our elderly. For about one-third of all seniors over the age 
of 65, it represents 90 percent of their income. In fact, Social 
Security benefits lifted approximately 15 million senior citizens out 
of poverty last year.
  Now, Social Security is not just a retirement program for our 
seniors. It provides badly needed survivor benefits, also. One out of 
every five Social Security beneficiaries receives survivor or 
disability benefits. This program also provides for disability benefits 
to our Nation's workers. For three out of four workers, Social Security 
represents their only form of disability coverage.
  The Republican budget does absolutely nothing to extend the life of 
the Social Security program. Democrats want to strengthen the Social 
Security program and actually extend its life. The President's plan 
extends the life of Social Security for 15 years. Republicans do not 
propose extending the life of the program by a single day. Instead, 
they are actually raiding the Social Security trust fund to the tune of 
$13 billion. The President's plan, however, would apply the interest 
savings gained by paying down the debt to saving Social Security. While 
the so-called lockbox proposed by Republicans would have used any such 
interest savings to finance a huge tax cut for the wealthy, the 
Democrats propose to devote the entire interest savings to ensuring the 
life of the Social Security program.
  The President's plan solves two major problems also simultaneously. 
This plan will directly invest Social Security surpluses into paying 
off our public debt as well as extending the program's solvency. This 
proposal will reduce the debt by $3.1 trillion over the next 15 years, 
thereby creating badly needed resources for our children and our 
families, such as education, health care and housing. By investing a 
decade of Social Security surpluses to debt reduction, we will cut the 
debt by $2.1 trillion, cutting interest payments to $56 billion. The 
President's plan proposes to devote the entire interest savings to 
extending the life of Social Security. The Social Security program is 
expected to have difficulty paying timely benefits starting in the year 
2034. According to preliminary estimates by the Social Security 
program's Office of the Actuary, the President's proposal would extend 
solvency until 2050. This is an extra 16 years added to the life of the 
program. This Congress has an obligation to strengthen the Social 
Security program, because working people have earned and deserve Social 
Security. It is the most sacred and fundamental measure for the 
survival of all Americans.
  The American people deserve the truth. The Republicans are not saving 
Social Security nor protecting the program so that our children and 
grandchildren can benefit from this retirement program. Social Security 
will not be around for our children if we allow the Republicans to 
continue to spend as they do.
  Let us support the President's proposal to ensure that Social 
Security survives for our seniors today as well as for our future 
generations. Our children and our grandchildren deserve no less.

                          ____________________