[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    SOCIAL SECURITY TRANSITION COSTS

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, President Bush says the transition cost for 
his Social Security plan will cost about $700 billion in the first 
year, but can Members believe him? Let us look at the President's 
record on estimating costs for his programs. Two years ago he promised 
his Medicare prescription drug bill would cost from 300 to 400 billion 
over 10 years. This week the President was forced to admit that it now 
will cost more than $1.2 trillion. That is four times what he said when 
he was lobbying my colleagues to vote for the Medicare prescription 
drug bill a couple of years ago.
  Now the President wants the American people to believe his Social 
Security privatization plan will only cost $700 billion in the first 
year, but other estimates have it at nearly $2 trillion in the first 
year to transition to his privatization plan.

                              {time}  1015

  The President, Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, has proven time and time 
again that he simply cannot estimate the cost of his programs; and we 
simply cannot afford to buy into his risky Social Security 
privatization bill. It is going to cost a lot more. It is going to cut 
benefits, and it is a risky privatization plan.

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