[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11974-H11975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE TIME HAS PASSED FOR JUST TALKING AND RHETORIC. LET US DO SOMETHING 
                       ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about Social 
Security. We have heard a lot of talk about it.
  The President 2 years ago in his State of the Union message said, let 
us start putting Social Security first. Republicans have said that and 
Democrats have said that. So we are doing a lot of talking but we are 
not doing a great deal of putting Social Security first.
  We have taken maybe a giant step in the conviction of the Republicans 
not to spend the Social Security surplus, and so we have made a 
decision that despite the fact that there are more revenues coming into 
the Federal Government than we have seen for a long, long time, and the 
revenues coming in are both what is called on budget, which means the 
income tax and all other revenues except for the Social Security tax, 
and Social Security tax is now 12.4 percent of most of what everybody 
makes, what is happening is it is a pay-as-you-go program. Social 
Security gets their Social Security, the FICA tax, the payroll tax, 
money in every week and almost immediately it is sent out in benefits.
  Since we dramatically increased the Social Security tax in 1983, 
there is a little more Social Security tax coming in than there is 
required to pay current benefits. That is what is called the Social 
Security surplus, and what Republicans decided several months ago is 
that we were going to hold the line on the budget not to spend the 
Social Security surplus for other government programs and instead use 
that money to pay down what I call the Wall Street debt or the debt 
held by the public.
  I have introduced a Social Security bill every year since I have been 
in Congress, every session since I have been in Congress since 1993. I 
just introduced the most recent improved Social Security bill last 
month, and it was based on our task force report, our bipartisan task 
force report, where Republicans and Democrats came together to agree on 
the findings. The bill I introduced reflects these findings.
  Let me briefly go over this chart. Number one, it allows workers to 
invest a portion of their Social Security tax. It starts at 2.5 percent 
of your taxable payroll. That is now $76,000. Over the years, it 
increases. It can only be used for retirement but it is in the worker's 
name so that politicians in Washington cannot steal it like they have 
in the past.
  In 1997, when Social Security money was short, we passed a law that 
says we are going to reduce benefits and increase taxes. Again in 1983, 
when Social Security revenues were short of the requirement for 
benefits, we increased taxes and cut benefits. Let us not do that 
again.
  This bill does not increase taxes. Seventy-two percent of all the 
workers in the United States now pay more in the Social Security tax 
than they do in the income tax. Let us not increase taxes.
  It repeals the Social Security earnings test so senior citizens, if 
they want to work, do not have their Social Security check reduced for 
the amount they work. That needs to be changed to allow seniors to work 
if they want to.
  It gives workers the choice to retire as early as 59\1/2\ years old 
and start taking their personal retirement savings account out.
  We also have a provision that encourages individuals, if they want to 
wait until they are 70, it substantially increases their benefits by 8 
percentage points for every year that they delay taking their Social 
Security check. In other words, if they delay 3 years, it is a 24 
percent increase in what they would otherwise get. One year would be 8 
percent; 2 years 16 percent.
  It gives each spouse equal shares of the personal retirement savings 
account and increases widow and widower benefits up to 110 percent.
  As I met with widows and widowers, they said, look, you are 
dramatically taking so much of the Social Security check away when one 
of the spouses die that we cannot afford to live in our home anymore.
  So we increased that up to 110 percent of the maximum benefit they 
were getting.
  It reinforces the safety net for low income and disabled workers. It 
passes

[[Page H11975]]

the Social Security Administration's 75-year solvency test. In fact, 
the economists suggest that if we were able to put this bill into law, 
it would keep Social Security solvent forever. It is not going to 
reduce the existing benefits for current retirees or near-term 
retirees. It is something we need to look at if we are serious about 
saving Social Security.
  The time has passed for just talking and rhetoric. Let us do 
something about it. Mr. Speaker, I hope that every American voting next 
year will be asking their candidates for the President and the Congress 
what their plan is to save Social Security and really put it first.

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