[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2211-S2212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today, I will pay tribute and make some 
celebratory remarks about two exciting lives in my community. First is 
the upcoming celebration of the 80th birthday of Mack Henderson, a man 
in my community who, besides being a leader, has been a warm and 
trusted friend. He and his wife Jean have been pillars of our 
community. The women's health care facility in Kennesaw was named after 
them as a tribute. Mack's daughter lives in this area, in Alexandria, 
VA. She has been a great friend to me. The entire Henderson family is 
going to gather to celebrate the 80th birthday of Mack Henderson, a 
great American and a great citizen of Cobb County. I wish him a most 
happy birthday.
  On March 10, another birthday occurred--the very first of my 
grandson, William Edwin Isakson, born to my son Kevin and his wife 
Katherine Isakson. William is our eighth grandchild. He weighed 7 pound 
9 ounces. He has a great future ahead, and I wish him the very best.
  It occurred to me, when I was coming to the floor to pay tribute to 
Mack Henderson on his 80th birthday and to recognize the birth of my 
eighth grandchild, that as I look into the future, I wonder about what 
has been said in recent months about Social Security and Medicare and 
about what Mack Henderson has enjoyed in his life and what I hope we 
can save and procure for the life of young William Edwin Isakson.
  In Mack's early years, Social Security was created. It was a promise 
to Mack and to every citizen in America that when you reach the age of 
65, and when you sign up and are declared eligible, you will receive a 
supplement to help you in your retirement years. Mack has been retired 
for 15 years and is enjoying the benefit of that.
  Last week, the Social Security Administration sent out a mailer 
notifying us that the time the Social Security goes bust is now moved 
forward to 2041. So in Mack's lifetime, Social Security was created, 
and by the 33rd birthday of my new grandson, Social Security will be 
gone. Even worse, Medicare, created after Social Security, has 
benefitted Mack. He has had a heart transplant and other medical 
problems, and he came through them with the help and assistance of 
Medicare. As for my grandson William, before he is a teenager, Medicare 
will be broke, inverted, and gone. As a Member of the Senate who takes 
a privilege to come to this floor and celebrate the birthday of a great 
friend and the birth of a new grandson, I know I have some work to do. 
So do the other 99 Senators and the 435 Representatives on the other 
side of this building.
  The President who serves now, and who will go out of office in 
January, has made an effort on Social Security, and it was rejected by 
organizations and others. It was an effort of privatization.
  The next President will not be so lucky to be able to neglect this. 
Time is running out. The next President will probably serve for 8 
years. When they are out, it will be 2018, 1 year before Medicare goes 
broke. I don't think we can afford to allow that to happen.
  As I come to the floor and pay tribute to these great lives which are 
so meaningful and significant to me, it is also an early warning for 
all of us to get to work on Medicare and Social Security. I commend 
Judd Gregg, the Senator from New Hampshire, for his efforts time and 
again to get us to deal forthrightly with these issues. They are not 
going to be easy.

[[Page S2212]]

  I don't want to ever face seeing Medicare go out of business and 
Social Security go broke. I am willing to stand up and take the heat 
and make the recommendations and work hand in glove with my fellow 
Republicans and with Democrats to see to it that the events on those 
two dates--the date of the death of Medicare in 2019 and end of Social 
Security in 2041--never take place. Between the two sides of the 
political spectrum, we can find common ground if we have a willingness 
to establish a goal and achieve it. I will never forget when President 
John F. Kennedy came forth to the people in America and declared that 
one day--8 years later--the United States would launch a man to the 
Moon, land him on the Moon, and bring him home safely. We didn't know 
how to do that; we didn't have the foggiest idea. We were getting 
beaten badly by the Soviet Union in mathematics, science, exploration 
and technology, and he was daring us to do something nobody knew how to 
do. We did it by July of 1969.
  I don't think saving Medicare and Social Security is as difficult or 
as technical as getting a man to the Moon and bringing him home. But it 
is equally as important--maybe more so--for the health, welfare, and 
livelihoods of our oldest friends who are in the twilight of their 
years and our children born to us this year; and it is very important 
to the United States.
  So this Senator pledges to his newest grandson that I will stand up 
anytime, anyplace, or anywhere and work with my colleagues in the 
Senate to begin the job of seeing that we fix Medicare and Social 
Security and that we preserve the promise for our grandchildren that 
our grandfathers have enjoyed and prospered with.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota is 
recognized.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I congratulate my friend, the Senator from 
Georgia, on his new grandson. We all hope this country continues to 
hold the promise it has held for so many decades now for all American 
children.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the Senator.

                          ____________________