[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 23 (Wednesday, March 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WHY ALL THE GIMMICKS?

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, remember the Social Security lockbox? 
Republican leadership had us vote on protecting Social Security with a 
lockbox eight times over 5 years. But now, of course, the lockbox has 
been ripped opened and plundered, and over the next 10 years it will 
finance tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.
  Now there is a new gimmick. Hey, certificates. Certificates suitable 
for framing on the wall and hanging next to the Enron stock 
certificate. They will be just as valuable. That is their new gimmick.
  Mr. Speaker, why all of the gimmicks? Because they are proposing a 
privatization plan that will undermine the foundations of Social 
Security, cut benefits, increase the retirement age; or, phenomenally, 
increase the debt. They have yet to say how they are going to pay for 
their risky privatization plans, taking 2 percent, doubling the problem 
that Social Security has. Instead of Social Security running out of 
money in 2038 and only being able to pay 73 percent of benefits after 
that time, they have a plan that will run Social Security out of money 
in 2024. That is not a great plan.

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