[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 26458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



USE HONEST BUDGETING, NOT GIMMICKS, AND FINALIZE FY 2000 APPROPRIATIONS 
                                 BILLS

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, just this past week 
I received lots of mail, especially from women in Texas, telling me how 
important Social Security really is to them. Social Security lifts 
366,000 Texas women out of poverty, and it lowers the poverty rate 
among elderly women in this State from 55 to 19 percent.
  It is distressing to me that while the elderly in my State are 
worried about the future of Social Security, the Republican-led 
Congressional Budget Office has revealed that the majority party's 
leadership has already used more than $1 billion from the Social 
Security surplus.
  Mr. Speaker, we have to stop it. Let us use honest budgeting and not 
gimmicks, and talking about a lockbox, when we know it is being 
ignored. We understand clearly that we cannot use $13 billion from 
Social Security and save it at the same time.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of my State and the people of this Nation 
want us to save Social Security.

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