[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27066]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. MEEKS of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, last night the President sent 
Congress his legislative proposal, entitled Strengthen Social Security 
and Medicare Act of 1999.
  The President's plan would devote the entire Social Security 
surpluses to debt reduction, extend the solvency of Social Security to 
2050, and establish a Medicare surplus reserve equal to one-third of 
any on-budget surpluses for the period of fiscal years 2002 through 
2009 to strengthen and modernize Medicare.
  I want to stress to my colleagues the urgency in discussing and 
reaching a fair compromise on this proposal. If we do not, our 
constituents will suffer and be caught in the middle of a partisan 
battle, and I am very concerned.
  In New York, Social Security benefits 2.3 million people who are 
retired workers, disabled workers, widows and widowers, wives and 
husbands, and over 247,000 children in New York receive Social Security 
benefits. In my district, in southeastern Queens, 74,579 people receive 
Social Security benefits, of which 9,000 of these individuals are 
children.
  We must preserve Social Security so that our constituents will have a 
decent quality of life.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, let's go Yankees.

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