[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H418]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      MODERNIZING SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, 1 week ago in this Chamber the President of 
the United States began a national conversation about modernizing 
Social Security. I think there are a few things every American needs to 
know about Social Security reform.
  First and foremost, if you are over the age of 55, Social Security 
reform will not affect you.
  Secondly, to every working family, small business and family farm, we 
will bring about this reform without raising payroll taxes on working 
Americans.
  The third thing we need to know is, the current system cannot afford 
to pay promised benefits to younger workers, so we have to bring the 
new and powerful idea of personal retirement accounts to give Americans 
the opportunity to make the same amount of dollars work harder for them 
in the future.
  President Franklin Roosevelt, on January 17, 1935, said in a speech 
to Congress about Social Security that its second wave would be 
``compulsory, contributory annuities which in time will establish a 
self-supporting system for those now young and for future 
generations.'' President Roosevelt's vision for Social Security was 
right for the 20th century, and his second vision is right for the 
21st.

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