[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2472-2473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, my staff just brought to my attention a 
publication from the Republican Policy Committee, which our colleague, 
Senator Kyl of Arizona, chairs. It is on their Web site. I found it 
interesting because it is a description of the Democrat's Social 
Security plan. What is interesting about this so-called bill, as 
described by Senator Kyl and the Republican Policy Committee, is that 
it does not exist.
  They go on to describe this so-called bill by the Democrats which, 
according to the Republicans, will require new borrowing or tax 
increases of $5.8 trillion between 2018 and 2042. This does not exist. 
What I hold in my hand and what is on the Republican Policy Committee 
site is a complete fabrication. There is no truth to this.
  It surprises me that my colleagues will reach a point where they 
would put this into the public discussion--try to--when they know it is 
not true.
  Let's try to recap where we are on the debate about Social Security. 
It was President Bush who told us we needed to talk about Social 
Security. It was President Bush who told us we face a crisis, a 
challenge, a bankruptcy in Social Security. It was the President who 
said we needed to privatize Social Security. It was the President's 
leadership who brought us to this point in the discussion. And many of 
us are still waiting for the President's bill.
  The President has spoken about Social Security. Some of his 
colleagues and friends on the Republican side of the aisle have 
applauded his suggestions, but as yet we have not seen President Bush's 
proposal. What we know about it concerns us.
  Instead of strengthening Social Security, President Bush's 
privatization plan will weaken Social Security. Let me be specific.
  A memo is released from the White House. It suggests changing the 
indexing rate for Social Security. That is the rate of inflation and 
other increases in the outyears. So we put the calculation together. 
What if you change the index from the wage index to the price index?
  We find out that in a few decades, we would be cutting Social 
Security benefits by 40 percent. President Bush's proposal is to cut 
Social Security benefits by 40 percent.
  How does that strengthen Social Security? It weakens it. For many 
seniors, it means they are going to be tipped over the edge. They are 
going to end up with less money from Social Security, despite a 
lifetime of contributions. So there is the first weakness.
  The second weakness is the President wants to take money out of the 
Social Security trust fund for these so-called private accounts, and as 
he takes the money out of the Social Security trust fund, it creates a 
greater deficit in America, a greater debt. This debt, of course, has 
to be paid off. We have to borrow money to make up for the amount the 
President wants to take out of the Social Security trust fund.
  How much is it? Well, the conservative estimates are less than $1 
trillion in the first 10 years but then up to $4 trillion or $5 
trillion in the second 10

[[Page 2473]]

years. So the President is heaping debt on future generations for this 
privatization of Social Security plan and has no plan to pay for it.
  So we have said to the President: Mr. President, you started this 
debate; you told us we should act now. Where is your proposal? And he 
cannot produce it.
  If one takes a look at the President's budget for America, one would 
expect this is his highest priority, that the first chapter would be on 
Social Security privatization. Well, search if one will, get a 
magnifying glass, bring a bloodhound from the Westminster Kennel Show, 
take whatever one can find, and they are not going to find it in his 
budget. Highest priority for the Bush administration and not a word 
about paying for privatizing Social Security in the President's budget. 
Why? He cannot explain it. He cannot defend it. He cannot tell the 
American people that what he is proposing will actually strengthen 
Social Security.
  As a result, people across America have said: Mr. President, we are 
not interested in your approach. If the President's approach means 
weakening Social Security and not strengthening it, if the President's 
privatization approach means substantial cuts in Social Security 
benefits, if the President's privatization plan means $2 trillion to $4 
trillion more in debt for America, the American people, seniors and 
their families, are saying to the President, no, thanks.
  That is not good news on the Republican side of the aisle. So because 
their plan is starting to fall apart and the support is not there for 
it, they have decided to go on the attack. The best defense is a good 
offense. So they want to attack the Democrats. Along comes the 
Republican Policy Committee and completely manufactures and fabricates 
a so-called Democratic bill that does not exist and says the Democratic 
plan is worse.
  Well, I have news for them. November 2 was an important day in 
American political history last year. That was the day of our national 
election. If one wants to draw a parallel to a football game, there was 
a coin toss. President George W. Bush won the coin toss and he will 
receive. He received the opportunity to lead this Nation as a 
President. Now he has the ball and he has to run the plays. The 
President's theory about the game becomes the reality of governing, and 
the President has to step forward and give us his plan, tell us how he 
is going to privatize Social Security and make it stronger.
  Everyone says if one takes money out of the Social Security trust 
fund, it weakens Social Security. Most everyone agrees that adding to 
our national debt means we have to turn to other countries in the world 
to borrow money. Who is paying for the debt of America today? The No. 1 
country in the world is Japan. Not far down the list we will find China 
and Korea. As we look at these countries, the mortgage holders of 
America, it is no surprise that many of them are exporting more goods 
to America at the same time as they own our debt. The two go hand in 
hand. The actual deficit and the trade deficit go hand in hand. So as 
we lose millions of manufacturing jobs across America, we lose them to 
countries that are holding and owning America's debt: China, Japan, 
Korea.
  What does this administration suggest we do? Go more deeply into 
debt, borrow more money from these foreign countries, become more 
dependent on them in the hopes that some day they will not turn around 
and tell us, we do not want to buy your debt anymore? The only way we 
will buy it is if you raise the interest rates, which, of course, 
affect our businesses, our families, and all of us as individuals.
  This is an extremely shortsighted plan by President Bush. It is a 
plan which he has not brought forward in detail because he cannot 
explain it. He cannot explain to the American people how weakening 
Social Security is in the Nation's best interest.
  The American people are wise enough to understand the reality. If we 
do not touch Social Security, if we leave it exactly as it is today, it 
will make every single promised payment, with a cost-of-living 
adjustment, every week, every month, and every year until the year 
2042. That is 37 years of payments from the Social Security system as 
it currently exists. There is not another program of Government that 
one can say with certainty will make every payment for 37 years, but it 
can be said about Social Security.
  Can we do better and extend its life even longer? Of course we can. 
But we will not reach that goal by creating this privatization of 
Social Security, by attacking the very premise of Social Security.
  The President says this is all about the ownership society. I think 
it is time for the President to own up about the ownership society. He 
ought to be honest about it. What he is proposing in privatizing Social 
Security will not make it any stronger. What he is proposing is going 
to cut benefits. What he is proposing is going to end up in more 
national debt.
  This idea of the Republicans to come back and attack the Democrats 
for legislation that does not exist shows how desperate their position 
has become. Maybe it is time to call a timeout in the game I referred 
to earlier. Maybe it is time to do something totally radical. Maybe it 
is time to have a bipartisan conversation about Social Security. We did 
it before. I was here. Twenty years ago, Democrats and Republicans sat 
down and asked: What can we do together in the best interest of Social 
Security? And we came up with a plan. With that plan, we bought more 
than 50 years of solvency for Social Security. There were no bragging 
rights for Democrats, no bragging rights for Republicans. We did it for 
the country, we did it for people and families who depend on Social 
Security. That is where we need to return today.
  The privatization plan of the President is not going anywhere. People 
understand it is too great a risk. They do not want to play retirement 
roulette. They have invested for a lifetime in Social Security to have 
a basic safety net of protection, and today they need it more than 
ever. Today, as corporations declare bankruptcy and walk away from 
their pension obligations, as they walk away from health care for 
retirees, there are certain things which we ought to say are protected 
in America. Social Security is one of them.
  We need to come together as a nation and first make a commitment that 
Social Security is going to survive and be strong; secondly, that any 
savings incentives we create should not be at the expense of Social 
Security. We have a thrift savings plan for Federal employees. I am 
part of it. My family participates in it. It is a good idea. It is over 
and above Social Security. We pay into Social Security and with extra 
money pay into this thrift savings plan. I think it is a smart thing 
for my wife and for my family. Other Americans could reach the same 
conclusion. There are ways to encourage savings but not at the expense 
of the Social Security trust fund.
  The biggest problem the Social Security trust fund has today is all 
the money that has been taken out of the Social Security trust fund by 
this administration and others. When this President wants to pay for a 
tax cut for the wealthiest people in America, the money comes out of 
the Social Security trust fund. Want to keep Social Security strong? 
Put the money back into the Social Security trust fund. Stop taking it 
out.
  When we had a surplus in our budget, the future of Social Security 
was even brighter. Today, with record deficits under the Bush 
administration, it is no wonder we are worried about Social Security 
after 40 years.
  So I urge my colleagues, do not engage in this kind of political 
trickery, trying to suggest that legislation exists which does not 
exist, trying to assign certain numbers and costs to a bill that does 
not exist. It reflects very quickly how weak the President's proposal 
is.
  I yield the floor.

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