[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, it is going to be sort of like a 
lesson plan. It is about Social Security. Next Wednesday at 11 a.m., a 
week from tomorrow, I will have a press conference on a Social Security 
bill that I am introducing that will keep Social Security solvent 
forever. I have been working on Social Security for the last 5 years, 
developing what I think is a reasonable proposal to keep Social 
Security solvent and protected. We are going to hear later tonight 
about the importance of not spending the Social Security surplus.
  A year ago last April, I was asked to chair a bipartisan task force 
on Social Security. At that time, most everybody thought that the 
Democrats and Republicans would not come to any agreement on what we 
should do about Social Security. But after 15 hearings with two or 
three or four witnesses per hearing, we became so convinced and, 
therefore, unified about how serious the problem of keeping Social 
Security solvent was and how important Social Security was to so many 
Americans that Republicans and Democrats came together and agreed on 18 
findings.
  I just want to quickly go through these finding. I know it is sort of 
like a lesson plan, but if my colleagues have a mental attitude that 
this is going to tremendously affect their future retirement, the 
retirement of their kids, and the retirement of their parents, then 
bear with me on these 18 findings, because this is what I have 
patterned my new Social Security program after.

                              {time}  1800

  I am going to start. ``Background Social Security is a universal 
program that has provided a safety net for Americans.'' One-third of 
seniors today depend on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their 
total retirement income.
  ``Time is the enemy of Social Security reform and we should move 
without delay.'' Time is the minimum because we are running out of 
money. It is expected that by 2012 to 2014 there is going to be less 
FICA tax coming in than is able to accommodate existing benefits at 
that time. The longer we put off not utilizing the surplus that is 
coming in for the next several years, the more drastic that solution is 
going to have to be.
  ``Change should be gradual to allow workers to adjust their 
retirement plans, and any change for current or near-term retirees 
should be minimal.'' And that is what we have been working on the last 
several weeks in my bill, and it will be a bipartisan bill with 
Democrats and Republicans sponsoring that bill. It will keep Social 
Security solvent not just for 75 years but forever.
  The next item we agreed on is, ``Social Security under the current 
structure is projected to become insolvent during the next 75 years.'' 
And that is the problem. That is why it is important not spending the 
surplus now, because it is going to be that much more difficult to pay 
that back to Social Security when the time comes.
  ``Any reform must consider the effects on all generations, genders 
and those currently receiving Social Security benefits.''
  ``Solvency and reform are not necessarily tied together.''
  ``No payroll tax increase.'' And again I remind my colleagues that 
this is Democrats and Republicans on this task force agreeing.
  ``Social Security surpluses should only be spent on Social 
Security.'' That is what we are fighting about here in Congress now.
  ``Social Security reform should encourage savings and overall 
economic growth.'' And that is why investing some of that money in the 
capital markets and how that might be best utilized is so important in 
how we develop a final plan.
  ``The Social Security Trust Fund is a secure, legal entity comprised 
of U.S. Treasury bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. 
Government.'' Listen to this, though. ``While the U.S. has never 
defaulted on any of its obligations, these bonds represent a claim on 
future Federal revenue. Such securities will have to be redeemed from 
funds outside of the Trust Fund.'' That means we either cut other 
spending, we increase taxes, or we reduce benefits.
  ``The current demographic projections may very well underestimate the 
future of life expectancy.'' We had testimony that within 25 years 
anybody that wanted to live to be 100 years old would have that option; 
within 40 years anybody that wanted to live to be 120 years old would 
have that option. Tremendous implications not only on Social Security 
but on everybody's retirement plans. And that is why we, in the bill we 
will be introducing, encourage additional savings.
  I am going through the rest of these very quickly. ``Guaranteed 
return securities and annuities can be used with personal accounts as 
part of an investment safety net.'' We have financial managers now that 
will guarantee investments in the stock market and guarantee that 
investors will not have a loss.
  ``A universal Social Security survivor and disability benefit program 
needs to be maintained.'' No changes in that part.
  ``Congress should consider paying for a portion of the disability 
benefits for certain workers that have only been working a short 
time.''
  Again, our press conference will be next Wednesday at 11 a.m., a week 
from tomorrow. We hope all our colleagues will attend, Mr. Speaker. I 
think it is important that we look at the long-range solutions for 
Social Security.

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