[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1755]]
                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, well, the President was on the road again 
today with yet another tightly controlled scripted, so-called town 
hall, before a carefully screened, invitation audience to tout to his 
plan to privatize Social Security.
  Now, that is not unusual; in fact, the scripted town halls are all so 
similar that they can save the taxpayers a lot of money if he just 
stayed at Camp David or Crawford, Texas, and they just replayed the 
recordings of his earlier scripted, rehearsed town halls.
  But the President did say today something extraordinary, in 
Parkersburg, West Virginia, and suggested something unconscionable. The 
President said, ``There is no trust fund.'' And then he went on to 
suggest that our Nation might not honor its debt to Social Security. 
This is what the President said does not exist.
  Let me read from this. This is a Social Security Trust Fund bond, 
considered the best investments in the world, U.S. Treasury Bond. This 
is the most privileged of Treasury bonds issued to Social Security, 
redeemable at any time at full face value, unlike any other bond that 
they issue. These are the most privileged of their bonds. The President 
says it is nothing but an IOU. Well, here is what it says: This bond is 
incontestable in the hands of the Federal Old Age and Survivors 
Insurance Trust Fund. The bond is supported by the full faith and 
credit of the United States. And the United States is pledged to the 
payment of the bond with respect to both principal and interest.
  The President questions that? He is questioning whether we are going 
to repay our most privileged debt to Social Security. We have $7.9 
trillion of debt. He is adding to it at a record rate, borrowing $1.3 
million a minute. Who is he saying we are going to repay and not repay?
  Are we going to repay the Chinese but not the Social Security Trust 
Fund? Are we going to repay President Bush, he happens to have some 
U.S. Treasury Bonds in his personal portfolio, but not the Social 
Security Trust Fund? Are we going to repay other wealthy investors 
around the world and in the U.S., but not the Social Security Trust 
Fund? We are going to selectively default on our debt.
  Suggesting something like that, if the bond markets believed the 
President, the dollar would drop to near zero tomorrow, and there would 
be an economic catastrophe, but they do not believe him. They know this 
is just politics and rhetoric on his part. There is no intention of the 
Government of the United States defaulting on its debt.
  This year Social Security will collect $170 billion more than it 
needs to pay Social Security benefits, and they are invested in the 
trust fund. If what the President said is true, there is no trust fund, 
and we are not going to honor it, then Congress and the President are 
perpetrating a fraud of extraordinary magnitude on the working people 
of America, extorting through taxes $170 billion more than they need to 
pay current benefits that this President has no intention of repaying. 
That is unbelievable.
  Every minute, every minute, this President and this Congress are 
borrowing $320,000 of Social Security taxes and spending it on 
something else. And the President says he is replacing it with 
worthless IOUs; they are not bonds, they are not investments. He 
questions whether they will be repaid. He questions the full faith and 
credit of the Government of the United States of America and its 
willingness, our willingness, to meet our obligations and our debt.
  If what the President says is true, then we ought to give the working 
people of America, instead of the rich people of America, the biggest 
tax cut in history. Reduce the Social Security tax, which falls more 
heavily on working people. More working Americans pay more in Social 
Security taxes than they do income taxes to the Federal Government.
  If he has no intention of repaying that $170 billion that he is 
borrowing this year of excess Social Security taxes, then we should not 
collect it under false pretenses. We should give people a big tax 
break. That would stimulate small business, employment, and put a lot 
of money in the pockets of working people. I am not advocating that.
  But if he does not repay it, he should be advocating it, and instead 
of trying to switch the game and having an irrelevant debate over a so-
called privatization plan which actually makes the funding problems of 
Social Security worse and would require another few trillion dollars of 
borrowing, in which I guess people would get these worthless bonds that 
the President questions.
  Now, who is going to buy those worthless bonds? How is he going to 
continue to run the Government of the United States borrowing $1.3 
million a minute if the bonds of this country are worthless?
  This is an extraordinary and reckless statement for the elected 
President of the United States to make.

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