[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13511]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 75th anniversary of the 
Social Security program, two things are very clear. First, the program 
which keeps fully half of our seniors from living in poverty must be 
preserved and sustained for the long run. Second, preservation of 
Social Security must not, cannot mean increasing the risk that we ask 
our seniors to take.
  Already, just a year or two after financial disaster obliterated $17 
trillion of American household wealth, we hear the proposals of 
privatization, of turning Social Security money over to the vagaries of 
the market. Mr. Speaker, could you imagine if that monthly Social 
Security check that 50 million Americans get was hammered the way 
retirement accounts have been hammered?
  Every American who can should have private accounts that they fund 
with their savings. They shouldn't just rely on Social Security. But 
when things go wrong, they need to be able to rely on that Social 
Security with no risk that it disappears.

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