[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     UNMASKING THE FAULTY RHETORIC

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, let us really unmask the Republican 
rhetoric. They can repeat over and over again that they are not 
spending the Social Security surplus, but let me just say this: we 
could put wheels on my grandmother, but we would not make her a wagon. 
I mean this is unbelievable; it is unimaginable what they are talking 
about here.
  Mr. Speaker, their own accounting office, the Congressional Budget 
Office, has said that their budget spends $13 billion from the Social 
Security Trust Fund. Instead of trying to strengthen Social Security, 
protect it for the future and not spend it, they are in fact at this 
moment deep into the Social Security surplus.
  As my colleagues know, the baby boomers are going to retire soon. We 
need a strong Social Security system for those people who are enjoying 
it today and for those who need to have it for the future.
  The budget that the Republican leadership has prepared does not allow 
for that reality, so we need to call this for what it is. I will tell 
my colleagues what they are doing. Not only are they spending our 
savings, they are doing it with projects that are out of step with the 
public priorities. They spend billions of dollars on military projects 
that the Pentagon does not want. They give billions to the corporate 
oil and gas industry.
  Let us unmask this faulty rhetoric.

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