[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 89 (Wednesday, July 12, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H5849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             STEPS TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, in Savannah, we are blessed. My wife's 
grandmother, 97-year-old Betty Carswell is still alive and in good 
health. She is on Social Security and she needs it.
  When I was a boy, growing up down the street my good friend Ross 
Fox's dad died, and when he died, leaving Mrs. Fox with two young boys 
to take care of, Social Security was there to protect them. Yet today 
Social Security is in trouble.
  By the year 2030, it will be out of money. There are six positive 
steps we can take, however, to protect and preserve Social Security. 
Number one is to have some principles, to say that the benefits for 
current retirees and near retirees will not be increased; number two, 
to lock away the Social Security surplus so that the money will not be 
spent on roads and bridges but used only for Social Security; number 
three, taxes for Social Security should not be increased; number four, 
the government should not invest Social Security funds in the stock 
market; number five, modernization of Social Security should not change 
the disability and survivors' components for friends like Ross Fox, who 
lose their loved one, their parents; number six, a portion of the 
Social Security account should be personalized so that younger people 
on a voluntary basis would have the option of putting theirs in an 
interest-bearing account which earns more money than Social Security.
  Mr. Speaker, we can do this. We can have a good voluntary program to 
set up to protect and preserve Social Security. Our seniors need this 
and our future generations.

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