[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]




            RESIST GIVING IN TO FEAR: TRUST SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. GRIJALVA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, Social Security is a program that is both 
financially sound and essential to the lives of our seniors. Social 
Security provides the core retirement benefits for over 30 million 
retirees, and nearly half of the elderly would live below the poverty 
line without it.
  According to the Board of Trustees, of which four out of six were 
appointed by President Bush, Social Security is as healthy today as it 
has ever been. Their 2004 report says that the program can pay all 
benefits through 2042. After that, even without any changes, they could 
continue to pay benefits.
  The administration is ignoring these facts, deceiving the public, and 
creating force, hoping to force privatization of Social Security. This 
deceitful approach that this administration has chosen to wage war on 
its working Americans is typical of them. They create fear, and then 
they offer their only solution, one that suits their political goals, 
not the goals of the people, to whatever crisis they have conjured.
  To the people of this country, I say, do not give in to fear. Trust a 
program with a surplus over a President that created a huge deficit.

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