[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11747-11748]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          RETIREMENT SECURITY

  Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I ask permission to speak out of turn.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from New 
York is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk for a little while 
about retirement security. More and more when I am home on the 
weekends, I am having more of my seniors coming up to me and talking 
about their nervousness about the talk about changing Social Security 
next year in 2007. They are also concerned about Medicare because a lot 
of them are starting to reach that doughnut hole that is in the 
Medicare part D part.
  A lot of people are concerned. They have worked hard all of their 
lives, and they are basically saying why are you guys down in Congress 
doing this. We have worked hard, we have put our money into Social 
Security and Medicare. And I try to reassure them.

[[Page 11748]]

  Last year, Democrats from across the country, the congressional 
Democrats, came out to the districts and talked to people about why 
they needed to get out and have their voices heard.
  We believe in Social Security. I know certainly some of my friends 
who are on Social Security now, they need that money every single 
month. A lot of them are widowed, and the pension that they thought 
they were getting is not there any more. So Social Security is giving 
them that little safety issue.
  I think we have to bring back again why we have Social Security. It 
was basically to make sure that people would not go into poverty. It 
was not meant to be a retirement fund. It was never to be a retirement 
fund. It was supposed to be insurance to give you a little bump to make 
sure that you could pay the rent and heating.
  I can say we as Democrats are going to fight to make sure that we do 
protect Social Security. I think it is important that people remember 
people with disabilities also get Social Security. Or those who, 
unfortunately, have lost their husbands at an early age and have 
children, they will be getting Social Security and their children will 
be getting Social Security.
  I know that going back just about 13 years ago when my husband died, 
I couldn't imagine how was I going to make it. Well, we did make it and 
I was lucky that my son was able to recover and that we didn't have to 
ask for Social Security. But I know a lot of my friends had to because 
they had young children. This is what it is, a safety net. It is a 
safety net for all Americans.
  So I can say that I certainly pledge for all Democrats that we will 
protect Social Security. I think people have to understand the scare 
about taking away Social Security. We are good for Social Security for 
many, many years down the road. And we are probably going to have to 
tinker with it as time goes by to make sure that the next generation 
and the generation after that has Social Security.
  There are many that say let's have savings accounts. I am all for 
savings accounts. I think Americans don't save enough. Those that are 
old enough and have parents coming through the Depression learned at an 
early age, even if you put $1 a week away, or $2, it is something you 
have for the future.
  I happen to believe in saving. Even here in Congress, I try to put 
away money so when I retire one day, I will have the comfort of knowing 
I will be able to pay my monthly bills, and I think that is what most 
senior citizens want to know.
  But when we talk about and when you look at the stock market, 
certainly in the last couple of weeks, it has been up and down like a 
roller coaster. We all remember in early 2000 when people lost 35 
percent of their holdings in the stock market, and many are just 
starting to recover now. We can't take that kind of chance with Social 
Security. Social Security is supposed to be something that is safe that 
the government is going to back. That is something that is extremely 
important for many of us.
  Certainly I know my mom and dad when they retired, and this is going 
back even 15 years ago, they needed that Social Security. That was the 
only thing they had to live on. Certainly their children helped them 
out, but it gave them dignity to be able to pay their own bills, and 
there are many parents that feel that way. They don't want to be a 
burden on their children.
  I have pledged that in 2007 when we all come back and this debate on 
Social Security starts again, I pledge that the Democrats will be 
fighting to save Social Security.
  But also pensions. We have seen so many of our people around this 
country losing their pensions. I know that some corporations say they 
can't afford it any more. They want to go into a 401(k). Well, I think 
a 401(k) is fine, but what is happening to us as Americans? What 
happened to the companies that basically backed us? If you were loyal 
to your company, you had benefits.
  I am going to continue talking about this in the next couple of weeks 
because I think it is important that Americans know about it.

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