[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 26 (Tuesday, March 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S2232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to express my deep concern 
about the direction that the President is taking the country in terms 
of our Nation's commitment to providing retirement security to the 
elderly and income security to the disabled, widows, and survivors. I 
am speaking, of course, about the President's plan for privatizing 
Social Security.
  President Bush writes in his recently released Economic Report of the 
President, ``The greatest fiscal challenges we face arise from the 
aging of our society.'' Yet his annual Economic Report devotes little 
more than a page and a half to this important subject.
  As his Economic Report reveals, the President has no real plan to 
address the fiscal challenges arising from the retirement of the baby 
boom generation, let alone a plan to fix Social Security. All the 
President has is an unaffordable plan to create private retirement 
accounts, with few specifics and many unanswered questions.
  That is not stopping the President from barnstorming the country 
telling the American people that Social Security is a sinking ship and 
private accounts are the lifeboats into which we should jump. But the 
administration is manufacturing a crisis that does not exist in order 
to dismantle Social Security.
  Despite the administration's claims, Social Security will remain 
solvent for nearly 50 more years. Even after that, Social Security 
would still be able to pay 70 to 80 percent of benefits. Modest changes 
to the system would enable Social Security to pay full benefits well 
beyond the next 50 years.
  No other retirement system or Fortune 500 company in the United 
States can make that same claim. In fact, the weakness of traditional 
pensions makes Social Security look like the most secure part of our 
retirement system right now.
  To put the problem into perspective, making the Bush administration's 
four enacted tax cuts permanent would cost three to five times more 
than the Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years.
  For over 60 years, Social Security has provided a dependable and 
predictable stream of income to retired or disabled workers, their 
dependents and their survivors. Forty-eight million men, women, and 
children rely on Social Security benefits each month to help them live 
with dignity. The benefits are protected from inflation and one cannot 
outlive them.
  Social Security is an insurance program, not an investment plan, and 
private accounts would destroy much of the insurance value of the 
program. More than one-quarter of Social Security benefits go to 
survivors and disabled workers and their families, and these benefits 
would be at risk under the President's proposal.
  We all acknowledge the long-term fiscal imbalance of the Social 
Security trust fund. However, it is equally critical to recognize that 
the President's private accounts do absolutely nothing to address this 
imbalance, as a senior administration official recently acknowledged. 
In fact, diverting payroll tax revenues exacerbates insolvency and 
accelerates the date of trust fund imbalance.
  For obvious reasons, the President has not mentioned this or other 
facts that are so critical to the Social Security trust fund. His 
privatization scheme requires cutting benefits by more than 40 percent, 
even for those who choose not to invest in privatized accounts.
  Those choosing a private account could be hit with an additional 
``privatization tax'' of 70 percent or more of the value of their 
account, which would be deducted from their Social Security benefits 
upon retirement.
  President Bush has urged Congress to fix Social Security for younger 
workers and not pass on the problem to future generations. However, the 
President's plan for private accounts would place a huge burden on our 
children and grandchildren by increasing Federal debt by over $750 
billion in just the next 10 years. This debt would rise to nearly $5 
trillion over the first 20 years that the plan is in place.
  The President's private accounts would cut Social Security's funding, 
weaken the program, and make its financial problems worse, not better. 
In short, private accounts pose a serious threat to the future economic 
security of all Americans, particularly the most vulnerable members of 
our society.
  This is why last week I joined 41 of my fellow Democratic senators in 
calling on the President to publicly and unambiguously abandon his 
support for private accounts funded with Social Security dollars or 
cuts in guaranteed benefits.
  At a time when our country is saving so little and fewer employers 
are offering traditional pension plans, Social Security's predictable, 
inflation-protected benefits that can't be outlived occupy a critical 
role in ensuring our retirement security.
  Before we can roll up our sleeves and delve into the very serious 
question of shoring up Social Security for all, we must set aside 
ideology and acknowledge the demographic and fiscal challenges facing 
this bedrock retirement security program.
  I want to work with President Bush to promote personal wealth and 
saving through investment, but not at the cost of Social Security. I 
urge the President to take private accounts off the table so that we 
might achieve bipartisan agreement to strengthen Social Security for 
the long-term and enhance the retirement security of all Americans.
  I yield the floor.

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