[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WE WILL NOT SACRIFICE SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, let me draw your attention to this 
important chart drafted by the Congressional Budget Office. It shows 
what the drivers of our debt are.
  Now, there's something on here that you see and there's something on 
here that you won't see. You will see Bush-era tax cuts. This is the 
orange. You will see the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the red. 
You will see the economic downturn. That's this blue. This tiny little 
line here, that's TARP and Fannie and Freddie. And these are the 
expenses that we paid to try to get our country back on track--the 
recovery.
  What don't you see? You don't see Social Security. Don't let anybody 
tell you, Madam Speaker, that Social Security is the problem. It's not. 
Social Security is the promise one generation makes to another so that 
every senior in America will live in dignity. That's what it's for. 
That's what it's about. We are not being unreasonable when we demand 
protection of Social Security. It's not driving the deficit, and it 
does honor our seniors. And that is what it's all about. That's what we 
are going to do, and we are not going to give on that.

                          ____________________