[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 44 (Thursday, April 14, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REAL SOLUTIONS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND THE DEFICIT
(Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute.)
Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, irresponsible budget and tax policies have
squandered the budget surpluses that President Bush inherited and
turned them into a legacy of debt and deficits. Now he is trying to do
the same thing to Social Security with a private accounts plan that
would add trillions to our national debt.
This plan is exactly backwards. Instead of thinking up ways to weaken
the Social Security Trust Fund, we should be taking steps to guarantee
that the assets in the trust fund are truly there to pay future
benefits. We cannot do that if we run up large deficits outside Social
Security that weaken our economy and increase our foreign debt.
Anyone looking for a plan to address the Social Security problem can
begin with two basic steps. First, take private accounts, privatization
off the table; and, second, worry about the real crisis, which is the
current budget deficit outside Social Security.
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