[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10748-10749]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 230--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT ANY 
   AGREEMENT TO REDUCE THE BUDGET DEFICIT SHOULD NOT INCLUDE CUTS TO 
             SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS OR MEDICARE BENEFITS

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown 
of Ohio, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Franken) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance:

                              S. Res. 230

       Whereas over 34,000,000 retired workers currently receive 
     Social Security benefits in amounts that average a modest 
     $14,100 a year;
       Whereas, in 2008, 23 percent of retired workers receiving 
     Social Security benefits depended on those benefits for all 
     or almost all of their income;
       Whereas according to AARP, Social Security benefits kept 36 
     percent of seniors out of poverty in 2008;
       Whereas reducing Social Security benefits would cause many 
     seniors to have to choose between food, drugs, rent, and 
     heat;
       Whereas 95 percent of seniors in the United States, who 
     numbered almost 37,000,000 in 2008, got their health care 
     coverage through the Medicare program;
       Whereas without Medicare benefits, seniors, many of whom 
     live off of Social Security benefits, would have to turn to 
     the costly and uncertain private market for health care 
     coverage;
       Whereas the Social Security program and the Medicare 
     program are extremely successful social insurance programs 
     that permit seniors in America to retire with dignity and 
     security after a lifetime of hard work; and
       Whereas the Social Security program and the Medicare 
     program help relieve young American families from worry about 
     their own futures, allowing freedom of opportunity in 
     America: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that any 
     agreement to reduce the budget deficit should not include 
     cuts to Social Security benefits or Medicare benefits.

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the ongoing 
negotiations on the Federal budget and our rapidly approaching debt 
ceiling. I think we all agree the situation we face is increasingly 
grave. I believe every responsible person agrees that a failure to act 
on the debt limit would have awful repercussions and set back our 
fragile and tentative economic recovery. Surpassing the debt limit 
could inflict a triple economic harm on our struggling economy: the 
economic harm of all at once pulling 40 cents of every Federal dollar 
out of the economy, the economic harm of shutting down every work 
project that depends on Federal permits, contracts or regulatory 
approvals, and the economic harm of driving up interest rates for our 
constituents and for our country. We must, therefore, act and act 
quickly to ensure that we avoid that outcome.
  I also believe the debt limit presents an opportunity to make some 
tough decisions on our unsustainable deficits. The longer we wait to 
make these choices, the harder they will be. It is my strong belief 
that any agreement we reach to reduce the deficits must be based on 
real savings and must not be made at the expense of our most vulnerable 
citizens. That is why I am so concerned about reports that Social 
Security and Medicare benefits have been raised as possible sources of 
deficit reduction. Cuts to Social Security and to Medicare benefits are 
unnecessary, are wrong, and should not be on the table. Social Security 
is not the cause of the deficit, and beneficiaries of Social Security 
should not be made to shoulder the burden of deficit reduction.
  A balanced deficit reduction package is certainly within our grasp. I 
wish to commend our chairman, Senator Conrad, chairman of the Budget 
Committee, for his proposal which would cut the deficit by $4 trillion 
over the next decade. His plan would cut the deficit by more than the 
House Republican budget and would do so without cutting Social Security 
or Medicare benefits. Chairman Conrad's blueprint would balance $2 
trillion in spending cuts with an equal amount of tax loophole closers 
for wealthy individuals and corporations. His budget would call for 
shared sacrifice, not just go after the elderly and other vulnerable 
Americans. We should not, as Americans, balance the budget on the backs 
of those who can least afford it. That is why I rise to offer a 
resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that any budget agreement 
should not include cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits. Social 
Security is funded through the contributions of our Nation's workers 
and businesses. It currently has a trust fund balance over $2.5 
trillion, and it is projected to be fully solvent for another quarter 
century. So while I agree with steps to strengthen Social Security, it 
is a vital program, any changes should be considered independent of 
this effort to reduce the deficit, and under no circumstances should we 
cut Social Security benefits. Indeed, the solvency of the program could 
be extended significantly just by applying payroll taxes to a greater 
portion of the earnings of millionaires and billionaires. What we 
should never do is to put elderly Americans' security at risk in the 
stock market or increase the retirement age or cut benefits through 
backdoor methods such as lowering the cost-of-living adjustment.
  As has the Presiding Officer, I have heard from hundreds of folks 
from my home State--Rhode Islanders who

[[Page 10749]]

agree with me--and, particularly, I rely on seniors to whom I have 
listened at community dinners and senior centers throughout the State 
who are concerned that they have already gone 2 years without a cost-
of-living adjustment when prices are going up all around them.
  Audrey from Middletown told me that after her husband died, she had 
many expenses but ``no income except for his Social Security check 
which enabled me to go on living--simply but adequately--without being 
a burden on my sons and losing my dignity as well.''
  Ronald from Cumberland, RI, has been on Social Security for a number 
of years. He wrote me to say:

       It . . . seems that it's always the people who need the 
     help the most who get cut from the Federal Government. Why is 
     this? No Social Security COLA for two years, yet prices for 
     the basic needs still rise. . . . In a country like the 
     United States of America, this should not happen.

  The threat to Medicare is just as real. Earlier this year, House 
Republicans passed a budget that in 10 years would put an end to the 
Medicare Program as we know it. Estimates suggest their proposal would 
end up forcing a typical 65-year-old senior to pay, on average, $12,500 
each year in out-of-pocket expenses, starting in 2022--more than double 
what a senior is estimated to pay under the current system. In Rhode 
Island, where the average senior only gets about $14,200 per year from 
Social Security, charging an average $12,500 for seniors would be an 
exercise in poverty creation.
  The Republican budget would also throw seniors right away--in the 
next year--back into the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole we 
have just begun closing through the affordable care act, and it would 
eliminate the lifesaving preventive services that were added by the 
health care reform law. Cutting Medicare benefits is the wrong approach 
to balancing our budget, especially while Republicans continue fighting 
to protect every single tax break, every single loophole, every single 
earmark in the Tax Code enjoyed by millionaires and billionaires and by 
corporations, many of whom pay no taxes at all.
  Medicare and Social Security are cornerstones of our Nation's 
prosperity, and they benefit all of us. These programs allow Americans 
to live their lives free from worry about their retirement security or 
the welfare and health treatment of their parents. This American 
freedom is a value we should fight to protect.
  While we should always be open to improving these vital programs, we 
must not cut the benefits our seniors and disabled Americans have 
earned and rely upon. I wish to thank Senators Blumenthal and Sanders; 
Senator Sherrod Brown; the Presiding Officer, Senator Merkley; and 
Senator Franken for their support in cosponsoring this resolution. I 
hope my colleagues will join us in protecting the promise we have made 
to our Nation's seniors through Social Security and Medicare.
  In closing, the challenge before us is a formidable one, but I truly 
believe we can reach an agreement on the deficit and debt ceiling 
without compromising the security and well-being of our seniors.

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