[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 22 (Thursday, February 26, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H635-H636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            PROTECTING SOCIAL SECURITY FOR WORKING AMERICANS

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep 
disappointment in Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan's remarks about 
Social

[[Page H636]]

Security. For any of you who missed his shocking pronouncement, Mr. 
Greenspan suggested Social Security benefits be cut for retirees, that 
the retirement age should be raised, and the cost of living adjustment, 
which was a whopping 2.2 percent this year, should be modified because 
it is too ``generous.''
  In 2001, President Bush inherited a strong economy and a $5.6 
trillion 10-year surplus. But that has been squandered and turned into 
a projected deficit of $2.9 trillion. We got into this mess not because 
of the war on terror, that I think all of us support, but because of 
the administration's fiscally irresponsible tax cuts.
  But Mr. Greenspan, who advocates permanent extension of these 
deficit-creating tax cuts, suggested we fix this economic disaster by 
raiding Social Security, not just borrowing from it like we do now.
  Surely this administration does not want to pay for tax cuts on the 
backs of the elderly. It is pretty easy for Mr. Greenspan to sit in his 
ivory tower and modify Social Security to meet his economic world view, 
but for those people living in the real world, for folks who are 
hanging sheet metal, who are working on our docks and ports, working on 
the assembly line all day, Social Security is a critical safety net 
that cannot be taken away or reduced. These are not folks who have the 
luxury of playing the stock market, as the administration would 
propose, or work a few more years, as Mr. Greenspan suggests.
  I hope and pray we reject his proposals and do not privatize Social 
Security.

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