[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 150 (Friday, October 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13525-S13526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STRENGTHEN SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE ACT OF 1999
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, today I am introducing the President's
new proposal entitled the Strengthen Social Security and Medicare Act
of 1999.
I send it to the desk.
It lays out steps we need to take to protect Social Security and
Medicare for future generations. It has a number of key provisions that
I will enumerate.
I look forward to the time in the not too distant future when I will
come back with a number of our colleagues to talk at greater length
about the importance of this bill and what it includes. It devotes the
entire Social Security surplus to debt reduction. That is one of the
most important features of the bill.
We recognize how critical it is that we ensure the viability of the
trust fund for as long as we can. We also recognize it isn't mutually
exclusive to want to extend the viability of the trust fund and pay off
the public debt at the same time.
Therefore, what this legislation will do is first pay off all of the
public debt. It will eliminate the publicly held debt by the year 2015,
reducing the debt by $3.1 trillion over the next 15 years.
It then devotes the entire savings, which otherwise would have been
spent on the interest on that debt, to the Social Security trust funds.
The real savings generated in the year 2011 alone, according to the
Office of Management and Budget, will be $107 billion.
This is a remarkable bill and one of which I am very excited to
introduce. First, we pay off the debt; second, we dedicate to Social
Security the interest that would otherwise have been going to pay
interest on the debt. We not only have eliminated the public debt, we
have lengthened the viability of the trust fund.
The President's plan extends the life of the trust fund in this
manner by almost 20 additional years, to the year 2050. This extension
of solvency is not conjecture. It is not something we wish will happen
under this plan. Independent Social Security actuaries have confirmed
this plan extends the solvency of the Social Security trust fund until
the year 2050.
What a remarkable accomplishment. First, we will have paid off the
publicly held debt; second, we will have extended solvency by 16 years.
We also do something else with this legislation. Obviously, it is
important to extend solvency. But if the program is not reformed, we
have not done enough. There are things we can do to strengthen and
modernize another aspect of the entire retirement infrastructure we
have in place today. That infrastructure has three legs: Social
Security, Medicare, and private insurance, or retirement plans.
We will address private retirement issues in other legislation.
This bill addresses the two main governmental pillars of Social
Security retirement: Social Security and Medicare.
It creates a real lockbox to further protect the trust funds both for
Social Security and Medicare by extending the budget enforcement rules,
including pay-as-you-go budget requirements from here on out.
There have been a number of debates on the Senate floor, and we
talked in recent weeks about whether or not we are ever going to enact
a lockbox. Unfortunately, the majority leader has chosen to fill the
amendment tree--that is to preclude Democratic amendments in the debate
on the lockbox; that has precluded our ability entirely to offer an
amendment which says we ought not only lock up the Social Security
trust fund, we ought to lock up the Medicare trust fund, too, because
it, too, is a trust fund upon which our seniors depend.
This legislation includes a long-supported lockbox, but it also
contains no trap door. The Republican version contained a trap door
that allowed Social Security surpluses to be used for any purpose,
including tax cuts, that could be labeled as Social Security reform.
There it is. In addition to ensuring we pay down the debt, in
addition to ensuring we provide for 16 additional years of solvency,
this bill provides a real lockbox without a trap door for Social
Security and for Medicare.
I think it is important we set the record straight when it comes to
this proposal. This has been the product of an extraordinary amount of
work within the White House, within the administration, working with
Democrats in Congress.
Republicans claim they have found religion when it comes to Social
Security. The CBO clarified what is happening right now on Social
Security with the letter provided yesterday. They said if the budget
and the appropriations bills pass as are now contemplated and as are
now drafted, we
[[Page S13526]]
will be using $17.1 billion of Social Security trust funds. Those
aren't our words; those are the words of the Congressional Budget
Office. They said if we were going to offset the need to use Social
Security trust funds, we would have to cut across the board 4.8 percent
to accommodate the increases in investments and spending across the
board in the 13 appropriations bills.
There shouldn't be any doubt about who it is that is drawing down the
Social Security trust fund this year before we even have a lockbox,
before we even have real Social Security and Medicare reform. That is
why this legislation is necessary. We have a rare opportunity to extend
the life and the solvency of Social Security and Medicare, to pay off
the publicly held debt in 15 years, and to provide meaningful reform to
both Social Security and Medicare in a way that will absolutely
guarantee that baby boomers, when they retire, will be able to count on
Social Security and on Medicare in a debt-free country.
It doesn't get much better than that as a goal, as a set of
proposals. I am hopeful in this Congress before the adjournment date
next session this legislation will become the focus of a good debate.
This legislation will be not only considered but given an opportunity
for a good vote, an opportunity for careful consideration. Let it be
amended if it be the will of the Senate, but let's debate it. Let's get
on with it. Let's commit it to law. Let's send a clear message to the
American people, we as Republicans and Democrats, and support
eliminating the public debt. We support extending the solvency and the
viability of both the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. We can
do that with the bill we are introducing today, and I hope it is done.
Mr. REID. Will the leader yield for a brief question?
Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the assistant Democratic leader.
Mr. REID. I listened intently to the leader's statement. I ask the
leader if it is somewhat startling, amusing--whatever word we want to
use--that the majority, the Republicans, did not support Social
Security when it was adopted in the 1930s; the Senator is aware of
that?
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator from Nevada is correct. To my knowledge, it
was not supported by Republicans--I don't know if I am in a position to
say unanimously, but overwhelmingly.
Mr. REID. We do know they filed in this body the motion to recommit,
saying they wanted to get rid of it once and for all.
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is correct.
Mr. REID. It is also true when Medicare was adopted, that was a
Democratic program. There was some support from the Republicans, but
not very much?
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is correct.
Mr. REID. The Senator is also aware in recent years, under the
leadership of Newt Gingrich, the House Republican leadership spoke out
in opposition to Medicare and Social Security? Is the Senator aware of
that?
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator from Nevada is correct. I think the words
were, ``We want to see it wither on the vine.''
Mr. REID. And the present majority leader of the House said he
thought Social Security was a ``rotten idea.'' Is the Senator aware of
that?
Mr. DASCHLE. That is how he has been quoted. That is correct.
Mr. REID. I further say it was just a few years ago when the Senator
from South Dakota joined a number of us on the floor in opposing a
constitutional amendment to balance the budget which used Social
Security surpluses to balance that budget. Is the Senator aware of
that?
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is right. In fact, he was a very important
part of that whole effort.
Mr. REID. In short, I say to the Senator, and I think the Senator
would agree, it is great, now that the Republicans, the majority, who
have been opposed to Social Security, opposed to Medicare in years gone
by, suddenly, in effect, have found religion and now they want to do
something to support Medicare and to extend the solvency of Social
Security; isn't it good?
I know you would agree with that. But I say to the Senator from South
Dakota, I think it is important that you, in effect, have challenged
them to come forward in a bipartisan fashion to debate these proposals
the Senator has outlined for the good of the country, to extend Social
Security and preserve Medicare. Is that, in effect, what the Senator is
saying?
Mr. DASCHLE. That is exactly what I am saying. I think it is
important for us to depoliticize the issue to ensure we find ways to
address meaningful reform that will pass and will be signed into law.
I am concerned. The Senator from Nevada mentioned ``getting
religion.'' I am concerned that, while it is important to have
religion, it is important to follow the practices of religion--if this
is how we are going to characterize this new-found sensitivity to
Social Security and Medicare--the facts do not comport with the current
expressions of devotion to Social Security. The facts are, the
Republican budget raids the Social Security trust fund by $17 billion,
as was indicated, again, yesterday in the letter from the Congressional
Budget Office.
The facts indicate that there is a trap door in the lockbox proposed
by Republicans that would actually allow any proposal to draw on the
Social Security surplus, so long as you call it Social Security reform.
You could call a tax cut Social Security reform, and it would qualify
under the lockbox proposal made by our Republican colleagues. Call it
reform and it opens the lockbox. That is the key.
We used to have skeleton keys when I was young. The Republican
lockbox has a skeleton key that would fit in any door. We need to get
rid of these skeleton keys. We need to get on with real lockbox reform.
We need to lock up Medicare as well; we need to make sure we are not
going to use the $17 billion of trust fund money currently included in
this budget. We need to do that and that is what this proposal will do
today.
Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield for one brief question, based on the
statement the Senator just made?
We had, yesterday, a number of Senators from the minority making the
case we were unable to bring matters to the floor--Patients' Bill of
Rights, minimum wage--all the things we have talked about in the last
several months and have not had the opportunity to, in effect, debate.
The junior Senator from Illinois came forward and said he thought it
was too bad the minority would not allow a vote on the lockbox.
I say to the Democratic leader, isn't it true that we were happy to
have a vote on the lockbox; all we wanted was to have our lockbox and
their lockbox and vote on both of them? Isn't that what it was all
about?
Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator makes a very important point for the record,
and we ought to make it daily. They are turning facts on their head.
The accusation is the Democrats won't allow a vote on the lockbox. What
is really true is we are not allowed a vote on our own amendment when
it comes to the lockbox. Our view is, it is important if we are going
to have a debate on the lockbox that we all have the opportunity to
offer amendments. You cannot have a meaningful debate without a
meaningful opportunity to offer amendments. That is all we are
protesting. Certainly, the Republican majority can understand that.
Mr. REID. I thank my colleague.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota is recognized.
Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the Chair.
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