[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 27857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY IS ONE OF REPUBLICANS' FOUR-POINT PRIORITIES

  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, since 1937, American workers have been 
forced, through no choice of their own, to pay into the Social Security 
Trust Fund. Today, 75 percent of the American people pay more in 
payroll taxes than they do in Federal income taxes.
  In light of that, it seems to me that there is a very important 
obligation that needs to be met, and that obligation is one that the 
Speaker of the House, when he stood here on the opening day of the 
106th Congress, made very clear. He said that we, in fact, were going 
to save Social Security and Medicare, and that is one of the four-point 
priorities that we put forth.
  Now, we very much want to do that, and I believe, if one looks at the 
appropriations bills that we have been able to pass in this House, 
including the most recent one which completed our work, we were able to 
do it for the first time since 1967 without dipping into the 
anticipated surplus for Social Security.
  That is something that underscores our very strong commitment to make 
sure that the United States Government stands behind that obligation 
which it forces the American people to pay into. We are doing the right 
thing in pursuing that.

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