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



        REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP MUST COME CLEAN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Madam Speaker, Halloween is over, let us stop playing 
those tricks and let us give the Americans the treat that they deserve, 
the truth. The truth is that the Republicans have exceeded their own 
caps by $31 billion, and we all recognize and we all know that.
  We also recognize that we have dipped into $17 billion into Social 
Security already. Apparently, the approach is if they tell a lie often 
enough, people will believe them. Well, this data did not come from the 
administration, this data did not come from the Democrat Party, this 
data came from the Republican accountants at the CBO; $17 billion into 
Social Security already.
  So what is wrong with this picture? We have a golden opportunity to 
work in a collective manner. And the beauty of it is that we are all 
talking about Social Security, so, apparently, we have some interest in 
that area.
  The leadership must come clean though and tell the truth. There are 
many worthy programs that we have, and we have had some major national 
disasters. We have the farm crisis, and there are some other needs to 
look at realistically in the cap, but let us tell the truth. Halloween 
is over.

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