[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 30 (Monday, March 14, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. PRICE of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Social Security was an innovative 
program back in 1940 when the first Social Security recipient, Ida May 
Fuller, opened her mailbox to find a check from Uncle Sam. To Americans 
back then, the Social Security program was a dream come true and real 
security.
  For every Ida May Fuller, there were 42 younger workers contributing 
to their retirement; 42 workers for every retiree.
  Now let us fast forward to today. Under the current system, your 
payroll taxes are immediately used to pay the benefits for today's 
retirees. This pay-as-you-go system works when many people are paying 
in and fewer are collecting benefits.
  But today seniors are living longer and collecting more benefits. As 
a result, there are fewer workers paying into the system per retiree; 
3.3 to be exact. And in the near future, there will be fewer than two 
workers per retiree.
  Mr. Speaker, if we do not fix the system now, the only thing our 
children and grandchildren will receive in their mailbox is a giant 
IOU. Let us work together to provide real security for all Americans. 
The time to act is now.

                          ____________________