[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 191 (Tuesday, December 13, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H8743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROTECTING SOCIAL SECURITY AND PROVIDING TAX RELIEF FOR MIDDLE CLASS 
                                FAMILIES

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, like so many of my colleagues, I think we 
should prevent 160 million taxpayers from getting a lump of coal and a 
tax hike this year, but we should not undermine Social Security.
  Last year, it was a mistake to take the 2 percent tax cut from Social 
Security and say we'll cover the losses from general funds. We should 
not allow a 1-year mistake to become a permanent attack on Social 
Security and on the livelihood of its beneficiaries.
  Social Security should not be used as a rainy day fund or a political 
bargaining chip. It should not be like another government agency that 
some years has a good budget and some years has the budget voted away.
  President Roosevelt described it best. He said, ``We put these 
payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, 
moral, and political right to collect their pensions. With those taxes 
in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my Social Security 
program.''
  Now, here's a way to handle the problem and to keep the mechanism of 
Social Security intact: Make the changes within the existing system. 
Let's cut the payroll tax for 160 million Americans but make up the 
lost revenue by temporarily eliminating the cap on wages taxed.
  As much as we need economic stimulus now, we need Social Security for 
generations to come.


                ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chaffetz). The Chair will remind Members 
to heed the gavel.

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