    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [April 7, 1998]
    [Pages 511-514]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to a National Forum on Social Security in Kansas City, Missouri
    April 7, 1998

        Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. Thank you,
    Governor Carnahan, for your leadership on so
    many areas and your friendship. I'd like to thank the leaders of this
    fine institution for welcoming us here and for the mission they perform
    every day. I thank Senators Kerrey and
    Santorum for their concern--longstanding--for
    Social Security reform and their presence here, and Representatives
    Hulshof and Pomeroy, who are participating in the program, and Representative
    McCarthy and also Representative David
    Dreier from California, who is a native of
    Kansas City, who are here.
        I thank the members of our administration who have come, who will be
    participating: the Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
    Frank Raines; the Deputy Secretary of the
    Treasury, Larry Summers; the Director of
    the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling;
    and the Administrator of Social Security, Ken Apfel.
        Attorney General Nixon, Treasurer
    Graeber, Insurance Commissioner
    Sebelius, thank you all for being here.
    Mayor Cleaver, thank you for hosting us.
    I don't know if Mayor Marinovich is here or
    not, but if she is, hello. [Laughter]
        I'd also like to thank the leaders of the AARP, including Horace Deets, and the leaders of the Concord
    Coalition, including Martha Phillips, for
    their hosting of this forum. The AARP has long

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    been a leading voice for the elderly, the Concord Coalition long a
    leading voice for fiscal responsibility over the long run, and their
    willingness to work together is very important. I'd also like to thank
    the Speaker of the House, the Senate majority
    leader, and the House and Senate Democratic leaders for nominating and being represented here today by the
    Members of Congress who are on the program.
        As the Governor said, this is a good time for America and a time of
    great hope. Our economy is the strongest in a generation. Many of our
    social problems are on the mend. Our leadership in the world is
    unrivaled. Within the next year, we will have a balanced budget. And
    where once there were deficits projected as far as the eye can see, we
    now have projected surpluses as far as the eye can see, a trillion
    dollars' worth over the next decade.
        But this sunlit moment is not a time to rest. Instead, it is a rare
    opportunity to prepare our Nation for the challenges and the
    opportunities of the 21st century, or in the words of the old saying, to
    fix the roof while the sun is shining. In the coming century, the aging
    of our society will present both great challenges and great
    opportunities. I hope to live to be one of those people and so, to me,
    it's a high-class problem.
        But because a higher percentage of our people will be both older and
    retired, perhaps our greatest opportunity and our greatest obligation at
    this moment is to save Social Security. In the State of the Union
    Address, I called on Congress to set aside every penny of any surplus
    until we had dealt with Social Security first. Both parties in both
    Chambers of Congress have joined in this call. That is the good news.
        Today we turn to the business at hand, building public awareness of
    the nature and scope of the problem and building public consensus for
    the best changes. Clearly, we will strengthen Social Security and reform
    it only if we reach across lines of party, philosophy, and generation.
    And that is one reason for the broad representation of age groups in
    this audience today. We have to have open minds and generous spirits.
    And we all have to be willing to listen and to learn.
        For too long, politicians have called Social Security the ``third
    rail'' of American politics. That's Washington language for ``it's above
    serious debate.'' This year we must prove them wrong. This conference,
    with its wide participation, is a good start. On the political calendar,
    1998 is an election year. But on the Social Security calendar, we must
    resolve to make it an education year, when we come to grips with the
    problems of the system and come together to find the answers.
        This issue is complicated, so we need the best ideas, whatever their
    source. The issue is controversial, so we have to have a national
    consensus on both the nature of the problem and the direction we must
    take.
        That's why I've asked all the Members of Congress to also host
    townhall meetings in their own districts. I'll be talking with several
    of them by satellite later today, and we'll hold more additional forums
    like this one around the country. In December there will be a White
    House Conference on Social Security. In January I intend to convene the
    leaders of Congress to draft a plan to save it. With this effort, we can
    forge a national consensus, and we must.
        For 60 years, Social Security has meant more than an ID number on a
    tax form, more than even a monthly check in the mail. It reflects our
    deepest values, the duties we owe to our parents, to each other, to our
    children and grandchildren, to those whom misfortune strikes, to our
    ideals as one America.
        Missouri's native son, Mark Twain, once said, ``I've come loaded
    with statistics, for I've noticed a man can't prove anything without
    statistics.'' So I thought we would begin today with a few statistics.
    Today, as the first chart shows, 44 million Americans depend upon Social
    Security, and for two-thirds of our senior citizens, it is the main
    source of income. For 18 percent of our seniors, it is the only source
    of income.
        But Social Security is more than just a retirement program. Today
    you can see that more than one in three of the beneficiaries are not
    retirees; they are children and spouses of working people who die in
    their prime; they are men and women who become disabled, or their
    children.
        So Social Security is also a life insurance policy and a disability
    policy, as well as a rock-solid guarantee of support in old age. That is
    why we have to act with care as we make needed repairs to the program
    occasioned by the huge growth in retirees.
        Since its enactment over 60 years ago, Social Security has changed
    the face of America. When President Roosevelt signed the bill creating
    the Social Security system, most seniors in America

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    were poor. A typical elderly person sent a letter to FDR begging him to
    eliminate ``the stark terror of penniless old age.'' Since then, the
    elderly poverty rate has dropped sharply. You can look here and see that
    in 1959 the poverty rate was over 35 percent for retirees. In 1979 it
    had dropped to 15.2 percent. In 1996 the poverty rate is down below 11
    percent.
        Now, there's something else I want to say about this. Even though
    most seniors need other sources of income in addition to Social Security
    to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, if Social Security did not exist
    today, half of all American retirees would be living in poverty--60
    percent of all women. Fifteen million American seniors have been lifted
    out of poverty through the Social Security system.
        Today the system is sound, but the demographic crisis looming is
    clear. The baby boomers, 76 million of us, are now looking ahead to
    their retirement. And people, clearly, are living longer, so that by
    2030, there will be twice as many elderly as there are today.
        All these trends will impose heavy strains on the system. Let's look
    at the next chart here. You can see that in 1960--wasn't so long ago--
    there were over five people working for every person drawing Social
    Security. In 1997, last year, there were over three people--3.3 people--
    working for every person drawing. But by 2030, because of the increasing
    average age, if present birthrates and immigration rates and retirement
    rates continue, there will be only two people working for every person
    drawing Social Security.
        Now, here's the bottom line: The Social Security Trust Fund is
    sufficient to pay all the obligations of Social Security--both
    retirement and disability--until 2029, after which it will no longer
    cover those obligations. Payroll contributions will only be enough to
    cover 75 cents on the dollar of current benefits.
        Now, if we act now, we can ensure strong retirement benefits for the
    baby boom generation without placing an undue burden on our children and
    grandchildren. And we can do it, if we act now, with changes that will
    be far simpler and easier than if we wait until the problem is closer at
    hand. For example, $100 billion of the budget surplus, if used for
    Social Security, would add a year or more to the solvency of the Trust
    Fund with no other changes being made. Other changes which could be made
    can be phased in over time, and keep in mind, small changes decided on
    now can have huge impacts 30 years from now.
        So how should we judge the proposals to change the Social Security
    system? Here are principles that I believe we should follow, and they're
    on the next chart here. I believe, first of all, we have to reform
    Social Security in a way that strengthens and protects a guarantee for
    the 21st century. We should not abandon a basic program that has been
    one of the greatest successes in our country's history.
        Second, we should maintain universality and fairness. For half a
    century, this has been a progressive guarantee for citizens; we have to
    keep it that way. It was not until 1985 that the poverty rate among
    seniors was lower than the poverty rate for the population of America as
    a whole. It is an astonishing achievement of our society that it is now
    so much lower, and we should not give it up.
        Third, Social Security must provide a benefit that people can count
    on. Regardless of the ups and downs of the economy or the financial
    markets, we have to provide a solid and dependable foundation of
    retirement security.
        Fourth, Social Security--continue to provide financial security for
    disabled and low income beneficiaries. We can never forget the one in
    three Social Security beneficiaries who are not retirees.
        And fifth, anything we do to strengthen Social Security now must
    maintain our hard-won fiscal discipline. It is the source of much of the
    prosperity we enjoy today.
        Now, these are the principles that will guide me as we work to forge
    a consensus. I hope they're ones that all of you can also embrace. This
    national effort will call on the best of our people. It will require us
    to rise above partisanship. It will require us to plan for the future,
    to consider new ideas, to engage in what President Roosevelt once called
    ``bold, persistent experimentation.'' It will remind us that there are
    some challenges that we can only meet as one nation acting through our
    National Government, just as there are others we can better meet as
    individuals, families, communities.
        This is also a challenge for every generation. To the older
    Americans here today, let me say, you have nothing to worry about. For
    you, Social Security is as strong as ever.
        To the younger people here today who may believe that you will never
    see a Social Security check--indeed, I saw a poll which purported

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    to be serious that said that Americans in their twenties thought it was
    more likely they would see a UFO than that they would ever draw Social
    Security. [Laughter] That skepticism may have been well founded in the
    past, but just as we put our fiscal house in order, we can and must put
    Social Security in order.
        And above all, to my fellow baby boomers, let me say that none of us
    wants our own retirement to be a burden to our children and to their
    efforts to raise our grandchildren. It would be unconscionable if we
    failed to act, and act now, as one nation renewing the ties that bind us
    across the generations.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. in the gymnasium at Penn Valley
    Community College. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Mel Carnahan of
    Missouri; Jay Nixon, Missouri State attorney general; Clyde D. Graeber,
    Kansas State treasurer; Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas State insurance
    commissioner; Mayor Emanuel Cleaver II of Kansas City, MO; Mayor Carol
    Marinovich of Kansas City, KS; Horace B. Deets, executive director,
    American Association of Retired Persons (AARP); and Martha Phillips,
    executive director, Concord Coalition. The forum was sponsored by the
    AARP and Concord Coalition.