[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27674]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         REPUBLICAN CONGRESS WORKING TO PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, for 30 years Washington big 
spenders have raided the Social Security trust fund. They have put big 
government programs ahead of retirement security for hardworking 
Americans.
  The Republican Congress has changed that. We put the Social Security 
surplus in a lockbox and we are not spending a dime of it. But the 
Democrat leadership just does not think this is a good idea. They think 
we should wait and see if we can find any money in the budget before we 
meet our commitment to our Nation's workers and retirees.
  That approach just does not cut it. The money is already there. So we 
Republicans are asking each Federal agency to trim waste, fraud and 
abuse. We will take one penny from each dollar in their budgets and let 
them decide how to get by without it. In other words, we will not cut a 
single program. Instead, we look to the bureaucracy to cut down on 
waste, fraud and abuse so we can strengthen retirement security for 
American workers.

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