[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PROTECTING AND PRESERVING 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 the year 2018, Social Security will 
start paying out more money than it is bringing in. In the years 2035 
to 2042, somewhere in that range, it will be out of money, and it will 
force a benefit cut of 27 percent.
  Now, that is not a burning crisis today, but it is a slow-burning 
problem that we in the U.S. Congress need to address. We should do it 
with a couple of parameters: that we are not going to cut the benefits, 
we are not going to increase taxes, we are not going to change Social 
Security for retirees or near retirees. But we should act responsibly 
in a bipartisan manner to protect and preserve Social Security and not 
use it for our advantage in the next election, but come up with long-
term solutions for the next generation.
  I invite my Democrat colleagues to come in with their ideas. And I 
would say to Independents and conservatives and liberals alike, let us 
put these ideas on the table, let us address this situation together in 
a bipartisan fashion, and let us do it for the sake of my parents, my 
dad is 87, my mom is 80; and for your parents; and also, again, for the 
next generation.

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