[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 18 (Thursday, February 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1583-S1586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today because this Senate 
needs to act now to save our children's future. We all know that Social 
Security is one of this country's greatest success stories in the 20th 
century. But why? Is it the hundreds of thousands of elderly who were 
saved from poverty or is it the millions of seniors who have retired 
with the stability of their monthly Social Security checks?
  Actually, there are two reasons. For me, the first is an Army 
sergeant who served in World War II and went to the

[[Page S1584]]

European Theater. The second is the woman from Alabama he married. 
Although they were never a family of great means, they worked hard, 
paid into the system all their lives, and got the money they were owed 
from Social Security when they retired.
  Of course, those two people I am referring to were my parents. It is 
because of what Social Security did for them and their friends that we 
all know it is a success story. I am sure millions of Americans feel 
the same way.
  Today, I would like to make absolutely sure Social Security is the 
same success for my children as it was for my parents.
  Let's get one thing out of the way right up front: This debate is 
about saving the future, not defacing the past. Every senior who now 
receives Social Security benefits or who is going to receive them 
within the next 10 years will get full benefits for their entire--their 
entire--retirement. They deserve that piece of mind, and they have it. 
This Congress will not touch Social Security in any way for Americans 
55 or older, period. This debate is not about seniors today. It is 
about our children tomorrow.
  I said Social Security was one of the greatest accomplishments of the 
20th century. But this is the 21st century. We need to strengthen and 
save Social Security for today's workers. If we do not act now, this 
system, born out of the New Deal, will become a bad deal for our 
children and grandchildren.
  When Social Security was created in 1935, it was still common to see 
a Ford Model T on the road. Today's young adults drive hybrid electric 
cars while listening to their I-Pods. A system designed for the 1930s 
just does not fit the 21st century.
  Something must be done and done now. Some critics say there is no 
crisis; that we do not have to do anything about this problem, even 
though we can all see it coming; that we can put it off until later. 
Their response to this healthy debate on the future of Social Security 
has been to poke their fingers in their ears and bury their heads in 
the sand.
  Well, that is simply not acceptable. We were elected to get things 
accomplished for America, not to mark time around here. Someday I will 
pass this desk, right here--the very same desk used by Henry Clay--
along to another Senator from Kentucky. I do not intend to pass this 
problem along as well.
  That is why I applaud the President's vision and courage in tackling 
this important but certainly tough issue. He deserves our gratitude for 
sparking this national discussion on saving Social Security. You might 
not agree with the various options laid out by the President--that is 
fine--but you have to agree that action ought to be taken.
  In 1935, most women did not work outside the home. Today, about 60 
percent do. In 1935, the average American did not typically live long 
enough to collect Social Security benefits. Today, our life expectancy 
is 77 years. In 1935, there were 16 Americans in the workforce for 
every retiree collecting benefits. Today, there are only slightly more 
than three.
  And before the next President is sworn in, the baby boomers will 
begin to retire, creating four new retirees for each new worker over 
the next 30 years. Yet benefits are scheduled to rise dramatically over 
the next few decades.
  What that means is the current system will begin to pay out more 
money than it takes in within just a very few years--by the time 
today's kindergarteners graduate from high school. At that point, the 
Government will have to borrow money or raise taxes to keep up with the 
benefits. When today's workers retire in 2042, the system will be 
insolvent.
  If we do nothing until then--just keep putting it off--the only 
solution will be to borrow massive amounts of money, impose crippling 
taxes, or drastically cut benefits, or all three.
  So at a minimum, we need to repair the system to keep it afloat. But 
we can do, if we chose to, a lot more than that. There is a lot of room 
for improvement in Social Security. We owe our children the most 
financially sound system possible. They will have paid into it their 
entire working lives. They deserve to be protected. I know a lot of 
younger people consider the portion of their paycheck that goes to 
Social Security to be like any other tax--money they will never see 
again. More young people believe they will see a UFO than that they 
will see their own Social Security benefits. That is how confident they 
are that it will be there for them in the future. That tells me we are 
letting down our children and grandchildren. They can see that 
Washington has done a terrible job managing their investment. Social 
Security pays out about 1 cent per dollar paid in, but IRAs and money 
markets pay on average seven times more.
  I have a message for every younger worker who is about to enter or 
who has just entered the prime of working life: The money that goes 
into Social Security is not the Government's money. It is your money. 
You paid for it. You paid for it with sweat and toil to provide for 
yourself and your family. If the Government didn't take that money, you 
would have spent it on yourself or your spouse or a parent or a child 
or put it in the bank. The point is, it would have been your decision.
  There is a way we can strengthen and save Social Security, still 
guarantee that it will fulfill its promises in the future, and also 
give younger workers the power to decide how best to grow their money 
and build a nest egg for retirement. We do that with voluntary personal 
retirement accounts. Voluntary personal retirement accounts are the 
best way to ensure that Social Security remains strong for our children 
and grandchildren. The money in these accounts will grow over time at a 
greater rate than what the current system now offers. The nest egg they 
build will be theirs and Government can never take it away. Most 
importantly, Americans will be able to pass on the money in these 
accounts to their children or grandchildren. It is a smarter, fairer 
system.
  I hear some of my colleagues say: People will waste the money in 
these accounts, playing the lottery or betting on horses at the track. 
Take it from this Senator from a horse racing State, such claims are 
nonsense and only meant as scare tactics. This Congress and President 
Bush will only pass legislation that will save and strengthen Social 
Security once and for all. That means we will set careful guidelines 
for these personal accounts. The money will only be invested in 
conservative bonds and stock funds. We will keep fees and transaction 
costs low. We will install appropriate safeguards, and we will phase in 
personal accounts gradually over a period of time.
  Voluntary personal retirement accounts are very similar to the Thrift 
Savings Plan that every Federal worker, like all of us, has access to. 
If we can offer this deal to Federal employees, including Senators, why 
can't we offer it to all Americans?
  The accounts are also similar to an IRA or a 401(k) plan. So most 
Americans will already know how a personal account will work. They are 
easy to understand. They will be completely voluntary, so if anybody is 
uncomfortable with it, they don't have to do it. No one who does not 
want a personal account will be forced to have one.

  On top of the voluntary personal retirement accounts, we need to do 
more to save and strengthen Social Security. The President said he is 
open to all reasonable ideas. So are all of us. But it is crucial that 
we tackle the problem now and not continue to kick the can down the 
road. Democrats and Republicans are going to have to work together to 
do this.
  I have spoken before of my hopes that this 109th Congress will be 
able to work together in a spirit of bipartisanship, and we certainly 
got off to a good start last week with the class action bill. I believe 
we should start now by rolling up our sleeves and working together.
  A few days ago the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee 
said:

       I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for.

  Well, it is pretty tough to sit across the table from somebody with 
that kind of an attitude. But I think most Democrats recognize that 
attitude is not productive and I don't think it is the view of 
Democrats in the Senate. I have already heard several of my Democratic 
friends say Social Security does, indeed, have a problem, and we do 
need to do something about it. That is good. Denying there is a problem 
is denying the obvious. We need their voices

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in this great national discussion. They recognize that when it comes to 
Social Security, what Republicans stand for is the same thing Democrats 
stand for--preserving the system for today's seniors and restoring its 
promise for our children and for our grandchildren.
  Social Security was there for my parents. It will be there for me. 
But I have three daughters. They are all grown up and have blossomed 
into accomplished young women. I don't want them to question whether 
there will be anything left when they retire. We should not let a 
system that provided so spectacularly for my parents and for me to die 
due to our reluctance to tackle big, tough issues. We need to restore 
the system so it is fair for everyone. Working in a bipartisan manner, 
we have the opportunity to do that.
  An increasing number of Senators on the other side of the aisle are 
acknowledging that there is a problem, and it seems to me a good place 
for us all to start is to acknowledge the obvious, which is that unless 
we address this problem, we are going to have a serious problem later, 
leading to massive tax increases or unacceptably large benefit cuts for 
our children.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I rise to echo the words that were just 
spoken by my colleague, the Senator from Kentucky, distinguished 
majority whip, with respect to an issue that is incredibly important to 
the Senate and to the people of this country. The issue is the future 
of Social Security. The program as we know it today will not last. It 
is headed for bankruptcy. That is why President Bush and others have 
done the responsible thing--to begin to raise the issue of reform.
  The question before us is, How do we fix the system for our children 
and for our grandchildren? I would like to commend the Republicans and 
the Democrats who have acknowledged and agreed that a problem exists 
with the current system and that we can do better.
  Going back to 1998, President Bill Clinton at that time called Social 
Security ``a looming crisis'' and then went on to detail the deep 
benefit cuts or massive payroll tax increases that would be required if 
nothing was done in the very immediate future.
  It takes political courage for Members of both parties to be open to 
reform. Members of both parties have expressed their concern about the 
current system and about the possible improvements brought about by 
adding personal retirement accounts.
  Social Security is an extremely complicated program. Sometimes it is 
difficult to grasp numbers in the trillions and dates that are decades 
from now. That is why it is helpful to tackle this issue in a way we 
can all understand. For me, the decision to find a fix for Social 
Security became clear when I thought about two extremely important 
people in my own life--my father Harold and my daughter Brittany.
  My father Harold Thune turned 85 this last December. He is a retired 
teacher, still living in the town I grew up in, Murdo, SD, with my 
wonderful mother who was the school librarian. My father also served 
his country as a decorated World War II fighter pilot. He is the 
essence of hard work and sacrifice. He has put in his time. I would 
never do anything to the Social Security benefit that he has earned. 
Because my parents never struck it rich working for the Murdo public 
school system, they depend upon their Social Security check. Many other 
retired Americans are in similar situations.
  For one-third of Americans over the age of 65, Social Security 
benefits constitute 90 percent of their total income. As President Bush 
outlined his principles regarding Social Security reform last month in 
the State of the Union, he made it very clear that Social Security 
benefits would remain unchanged for anyone 55 years of age and older. 
This includes everyone in retirement and those nearing retirement age.
  The system will be there for those who have paid into the system with 
a lifetime of hard work. No politician is proposing to cut benefits 
from my father's generation. Despite what we might hear from those who 
are defending the status quo, reform proposals work to solve the 
problem for younger workers, not take away the benefits from America's 
seniors.
  That brings me to another important person in my life who has helped 
me better understand the need to fix Social Security. That is my oldest 
daughter Brittany. Brittany is 17 years old, and she is a junior in 
high school at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, SD. Soon she will 
be entering the workforce. God willing, she will live a full life and 
reach retirement age in 2055. The Social Security trustees tell us that 
Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits by 2042, 
which is 13 years before my daughter Brittany could retire. That means 
even though Brittany will have paid into Social Security throughout her 
entire working life, the benefit promised to her will be cut by at 
least 25 percent according to the trustees.

  This is the problem. If we do nothing, our children and grandchildren 
will not see the benefits that are promised to them. Brittany's 
benefits would be cut by at least 25 percent and probably more.
  The reason this will happen is nothing more than simple demographics. 
When my father Harold was working in the 1950s, there were 16 workers 
for every Social Security beneficiary. Today there are only three 
workers per beneficiary. When my daughter retires, there will be two 
workers per beneficiary. The current pay-as-you-go Social Security 
system will not be able to handle the demographic shifts as the number 
of workers goes down and the number of retirees goes up.
  A majority of younger voters understand there is a major problem with 
the current system for their generation. A Newsweek poll earlier this 
month found that 62 percent of those age 18 to 34 believe Social 
Security will not be there for them when they retire. Predictably, 
young Americans are frustrated with the prospect of spending a lifetime 
paying into a system that is destined for bankruptcy.
  Some in Washington believe the best approach is to push that problem 
down the road; leave it for another Congress and for another President. 
I call that the ``sweep it under the carpet'' caucus. The American 
people sent us here to solve problems, and they expect us to do just 
that. To the sweep it under the carpet caucus, I say: Don't hide behind 
the status quo. Don't resort to the politics of fear and to scaring 
seniors. Your constituents and my constituents deserve better of their 
elected representatives.
  If we do nothing, we are looking at a $10 trillion shortfall. The 
longer we wait, the more expensive the fix will become. If we find a 
solution today, most experts agree it will most likely require $1 
trillion. One trillion today or $10 trillion tomorrow--those are the 
options.
  The predicament could be somewhat more manageable if we didn't start 
seeing problems until Brittany and her classmates start retiring. No, 
the looming crisis is coming much sooner than that. The Social Security 
trustees have told us that beginning in the year 2018, a little more 
than a decade from now, Social Security will begin paying out more in 
benefits than it is currently taking in.
  This means we will need to start dramatically raising taxes, taking 
on massive loads of new debt, or accept severe benefit cuts in just 13 
years to cover our promise to retirees.
  We cannot wait on the sidelines and let this problem come to us. We 
need to face it and we need to attack it by putting all ideas on the 
table. We need to stop the quibbling, the partisan games, and political 
brinkmanship to find a solution that saves and strengthens Social 
Security for the future.
  I ask my colleagues not to engage in futile bickering over individual 
ideas that may be put forward by some as part of the larger solution. 
My guess is, the solution will involve a number of ideas packaged 
together. Let's not dismiss or attack individual ideas as being 
inadequate before we have had a chance to assess their positive effect 
as part of a whole solution.
  I remind my colleagues that we must put all the good ideas on the 
table. My two elderly parents and my two young daughters are constant 
reminders of what is at stake in this debate. We must ensure that 
today's seniors' benefits are rock solid and find a solution that fixes 
Social Security for the next generation that is just entering the 
workforce. We need Senators on both sides of the aisle to think not 
only

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about what is good politics, but what is good for their children and 
their grandchildren.
  As this debate engages, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to listen 
to the voices of the people around the country and to understand that 
they expect us to come here to solve problems. That is why they have 
elected us, not to kick it down the road, not to sweep it under the 
carpet for another Congress and another President to deal with. If we 
wait, the cost will be much higher and the American people, the 
taxpayers, will experience a much higher degree of pain. It is the 
taxpayers who are ultimately going to have to bear the burden for the 
lack of responsibility demonstrated by the leaders of today if we 
choose to do nothing.
  I look forward to this debate as it gets underway. I urge my 
colleagues to acknowledge what is clear, what is obvious: We have a 
problem. The second thing that is clear and is obvious is that the 
American people sent us here to solve problems. Let's not sweep it 
under the carpet or kick it down the road; let's do the responsible 
thing and acknowledge this is a problem that needs to be fixed. The 
solution will require bipartisan support in this Chamber and in the 
House of Representatives. We must work together to save and strengthen 
Social Security not just for my father's generation but also for my 
daughters' generation.
  I yield back the remainder of my time, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ensign). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. McConnell and Mr. Bond pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 414 are located in today's Record under ``Statements 
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon is recognized.

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