[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12402-12403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1040
                          WARS AND THE DEFICIT

  (Ms. LEE of California asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, it's really no secret that the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a massive deficit that, if 
left to Republicans, will burden our children and grandchildren with 
the debt that Republicans created. The wars have cost over $1 trillion. 
And it's mind-boggling to hear that the minority leader wants senior 
citizens to pay for these wars. He wants to increase the Social 
Security retirement age to 70 for people

[[Page 12403]]

who have at least 20 years until retirement, and wants actually to tie 
the cost of retirement to the Consumer Price Index--what an idea, boy, 
I tell you--instead of the wage inflation index. And he wants it only 
for those who need them.
  Several years ago, the Republicans, let me remind you, they wanted to 
privatize Social Security. Democrats said, ``no.'' Can you imagine what 
would have happened to seniors had their retirements been given to Wall 
Street given Wall Street's greed and given their irresponsibility? 
Their lives would be shattered.
  So Democrats will say ``no'' to Republican ideas to slash Social 
Security to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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