[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, at a hearing last week the GAO Comptroller 
General David Walker, a former Social Security trustee, said Social 
Security privatization would ``exacerbate the solvency problem.''
  It would exacerbate the problem by eliminating the Social Security 
Trust Fund surplus and fail to increase the Nation's savings rate.
  In today's economy families are taking on more and more risk. They 
face uncertain jobs, the loss of health care, jittery financial 
markets, rising costs of college education. Their retirements are less 
secure than ever.
  Folks like the security that comes with Social Security. This debate 
is about choosing between privatization and the dismantling of Social 
Security as we know it or strengthening the guaranteed benefit that 
comes with Social Security. Rather than dismantling one of the most 
effective retirement programs in American history, we should be working 
together to strengthen Social Security for future generations.
  In these uncertain times we should be helping American families, not 
exacerbating the risks that come with retirement. Privatization is 
simply the wrong direction.

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