[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 23 (Thursday, March 3, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   WORKING TOGETHER AS DEMOCRATS TO IMPROVE SOCIAL SECURITY FOR ALL 
                               AMERICANS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there has been an ongoing 
discussion with the American public on what is good for them in the 
future and today. It is interesting that the American public, when you 
hand them the facts, understand the underpinnings of Social Security. 
Over 51 percent of them do not agree with the present plans offered by 
the administration to allegedly solve the solvency question on Social 
Security.
  The American public understands what it means to take $1.5 trillion 
away from Social Security to establish a private savings account that 
does not equate to solvency; the American public understands that 
Social Security is an insurance plan; the American public understands 
that any solution must be bipartisan; and the American public 
understands that when you begin to engage and divide a nation on a 
generational gap, that you are not moving toward a solution, you are 
only moving toward divisiveness.
  Social Security has endured since 1935. It has provided an umbrella 
on a rainy day. It is an insurance plan, a survivor's benefit, and it 
allows the disabled to live in dignity.
  Fix Social Security, do not destroy it. The plan before us destroys 
it. We are prepared to work together as Democrats, as Americans, to 
solve it.




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