    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [April 7, 2000]
    [Pages 653-656]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act of 2000
    April 7, 2000

        Thank you. Let me say, first of all, to Flo Mallonee, I thought she did a great job. Her family must be
    very proud of her. And if you get tired of the job you're in, you might
    consider elected office. [Laughter]
        I'd like to welcome all the former Social Security Commissioners
    here and say a special word of appreciation to our current Commissioner,
    Ken Apfel, and Deputy Commissioner Bill
    Halter. I'd also like to acknowledge the
    contributions of Jim Roosevelt, until recently
    the Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the Social Security
    Administration, something that would have made his grandfather very
    proud of him; and former Representative Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut, who is the current Associate
    Commissioner for Retirement Policy.
        There are many leaders of the aging community here today; I welcome
    them. But most of all, I want to welcome this very large delegation from
    the United States Congress, and at risk of--if I forget anybody, do not
    be shy. But my notes say that present here today are: Chairman Bill
    Archer; our minority whip, David Bonior; Representative Ben Cardin from Maryland; Representative Mac Collins from Georgia, who is here with his granddaughter who is happy that her grandfather can continue to
    work into his later years--[laughter]--Representative Joe
    Crowley from New York; Representative Sam
    Johnson from Texas; Representative Sandy
    Levin from Michigan; Representative John
    Lewis from Georgia; Representative Ron
    Lewis from Kentucky; Representative Bob
    Matsui from California; Representative Jim
    Ramstad from Minnesota; our subcommittee chair,
    Representative Clay Shaw from Florida;
    Representative John Spratt from South
    Carolina; Representative Jerry Weller from
    Illinois. I don't think I've missed anybody. And you should give them
    all a big hand; they did a fabulous job. [Applause]
        Over 7 years ago now, when I took office, the Vice President and I
    made a commitment to a 21st century vision of America, with opportunity
    and responsibility for all American citizens and a community of all
    American citizens. To do it we thought we would have to reward both work
    and family and create a Government that would borrow less and invest
    more. For 7 years, we've worked hard on that.
        Today, the size of the Government is about what it was in 1960, 40
    years ago, thanks in large measure to higher productivity from the
    Federal work force and the advent of new technologies. Thanks to strong
    cooperative efforts in the Congress, we have turned record deficits into
    surpluses, and we've enjoyed the longest economic expansion in history.
        We've tried to find ways to reward work and family, doubling the
    earned-income tax credit for working families with modest means, passing
    the Family and Medical Leave Act, improving the college loan program,
    and providing tax credits for college costs that were never there
    before, and many other initiatives. But we know, increasingly, how we
    deal with Social Security will be a test of our commitment to family
    and, increasingly, to work.
        In the 65 years since President Roosevelt signed it into law, Social
    Security has dramatically transformed the lives of older and disabled
    Americans. Seniors were once the poorest people in America. Today,
    thanks to Social Security, they are the least likely to live in poverty.
    In spite of the fact that many seniors enjoy other sources of income, if
    there were no Social Security in America, almost half the seniors in the
    country would be below the poverty line.
        Thanks to Social Security, many of our seniors have a level of
    independence that few older Americans could even have dreamed of 65
    years ago. And thanks to Social Security, we Americans continue to
    uphold the sacred compact between the generations.
        But FDR himself said, and I quote, that ``Social Security represents
    a cornerstone in a structure which is by no means complete,'' and that
    ``new conditions impose new requirements upon

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    Government and those who conduct Government.'' He would have been the
    first to agree, I believe, that Social Security must change to keep pace
    with changing times in America.
        The system originally was designed to encourage older Americans to
    retire by withholding benefits from those 65 and older who worked. Keep
    in mind, 65 years ago, when Social Security was initiated, the life
    expectancy in this country was not 65. The so-called retirement earnings
    test made some sense in the Great Depression, when the Nation was
    desperate to find jobs for young workers with families and the
    unemployment rate in our Nation was 25 percent.
        Conditions today could hardly be more different. The economy is
    booming, the unemployment rate at its lowest point in 30 years.
    Companies desperately need more workers. Older Americans have the skills
    and the experience that businesses need. Indeed, one of the most
    interesting things that was said to me today before we started is--Flo
    said it's a good thing we did this, because she'd be hard to replace at
    her present position. [Laughter]
        That's true. Increasingly, older Americans want to work. Many of
    them for various reasons need to work. And we know, as a practical
    matter, that unless they're in terrifically physically draining jobs,
    that continuing to work may well add not only to the length but to the
    quality of their lives.
        Today, one in four Americans between 65 and 69 has at least a part-
    time job. Eighty percent of the baby boomers say they intend to keep
    working past age 65. And I'm the oldest of the baby boomers, so I can
    speak for our generation. One of the reasons I went to law school is so
    nobody could ever force me to retire. [Laughter] Although I spent the
    better part of my life trying to escape law practice--[laughter]--I
    still remember vividly how I felt about it, even as a young man, and I
    still have some solace in that.
        Yet, because of the Social Security retirement earnings test, the
    system withholds benefits from over 800,000 older working Americans and
    discourages countless more--no one knows how many--from actually seeking
    work. It has long seemed senseless to me.
        In the 1992 campaign, Vice President Gore and I campaigned on
    scrapping the retirement earnings test. When it became obvious that the
    work that we had all done together to balance the budget and run a
    surplus and to stabilize the fund would make it possible to do so with
    no adverse impact, in my 1999 State of the Union Address, I proposed it.
        But what has happened here is truly astonishing. I hope this will go
    out all across America today. All you ever hear is how much we fight up
    here. This bill passed unanimously. Nobody was against this. And it is a
    tribute to the people who work on these issues in the Congress and those
    who have listened to them, but also it shows that there is a keen
    awareness here of how the aging of America and the improved financial
    condition of our country and our Government has totally changed the
    landscape.
        But I think it also reflects the understanding that this is a
    genuine human rights issue. We want people to have this right to choose
    the life they want or they need. The Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work
    Act means that hundreds of thousands of older working Americans will get
    checks next month reimbursing them for all the Social Security benefits
    withheld this year.
        Yesterday morning, in Chappaqua, New York, I went to get my morning
    cup of coffee in my new little village--[laughter]--and a lady came up
    to me and said, ``You know, I'm a public school teacher, and my district
    needs me. But I'm 65 years old. Are you guys ever going to get around to
    lifting that earnings test?'' And you know--it's terrible--I'm
    embarrassed to tell you this, but I can hardly keep up with my schedule
    from one day to the next, and I didn't remember that I was doing it the
    day after tomorrow. I said, ``In just a few days I think you'll be very
    happy.'' [Laughter] So if you're looking at me today--[laughter]--we did
    it.
        This bill not only means that our seniors will be able to enjoy
    extra income and personal fulfillment that comes with work without being
    penalized. It means companies with labor shortages will have a fresh
    supply of experienced workers, increasing our ability to grow without
    inflation. In the future, it will mean more baby boomers working longer,
    contributing more to the tax base and to the Social Security Trust Fund
    at precisely the time when the percentage of younger workers paying into
    the system will be dropping.
        This is a big deal. If present work rates continue and present birth
    rates and present immigration rates continue, when all the baby boomers
    get in here, there will only be two people working for every one person
    drawing

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    Social Security. This may also change that and help to further stabilize
    the Social Security Trust Fund itself.
        The retirement earnings test means higher benefits for--ending it
    means higher benefits for working seniors with no negative effects--I
    say this again--no negative effects on the long-term fiscal health of
    the Social Security Trust Fund. So it's the right thing to do for
    seniors, but it's also a smart thing for our Nation.
        I'm also pleased today to announce another important innovation to
    upgrade Social Security for the information age. Beginning today,
    Americans of any age can find out in seconds what their Social Security
    benefit levels will be in the future. All they have to do is to log on
    to the Social Security Administration's website, www.ssa.gov, and click
    on the new Social Security retirement planner. It provides estimates of
    future benefits based on your past, present, and estimated future
    income, and a new tool for the growing legion of Americans who are
    learning to use new technologies to make their own investment decisions
    and retirement plans.
        Two days ago, at the White House Conference on the New Economy, I
    discussed with leading experts on technology how Government could use
    the Internet to empower individuals and strengthen civil society. This
    new retirement planner is just a small but powerful example of the kind
    of innovations that I believe have the potential to transform the
    relationship between the United States Government and the American
    people.
        Let me, finally, just add one cautionary and hopeful note. These
    steps today are profoundly important, but I believe we should do more to
    strengthen Social Security. I think we should extend the life of the
    Trust Fund well into the middle of this century, while strengthening
    benefits for older women living alone, who are still much more likely to
    be in poverty than other seniors.
        Last fall, I proposed legislation to pay down our debt for the first
    time since 1835 and use the benefits of debt reduction, which would
    now--if we took the benefits of debt reduction that we're getting
    because of the surplus in Social Security tax collections now, the
    benefits are manifested in lower interest payments for the United States
    on this debt as we pay the debt down. If we took those lower interest
    payments, that benefit, and we put it into the Social Security Trust
    Fund, we could extend the life of the Trust Fund to 2054, which will be
    well beyond the life expectancy of all but the most fortunate baby
    boomers.
        I hope we can work with Congress to pass that plan this year. It is
    a simple measure. Some of us would like to do more. We may not be able
    to do more in an election year, where there are genuine and honest
    differences between the two parties and even within the parties about
    how to proceed on this issue. But at least, if we could simply take the
    interest savings the American people have given us with their Social
    Security taxes, which are now in surplus over distribution, and pay the
    interest savings from paying down the debt into the Trust Fund, think of
    it: We'd have 54 years on the life of the Social Security Trust Fund. So
    I hope we can do that.
        I also hope we can strengthen incentives for working families to
    save by passing the retirement savings plan that I recommended. And I
    hope we can expand high-quality pension coverage for millions of
    workers. I have proposed tax credits for small businesses to establish
    good pensions for their employees. It's harder for them, and I think we
    ought to give them more help to do it.
        Again I say, conventional wisdom says that nothing important happens
    in Washington in an election year. Today we have proved the conventional
    wisdom wrong. This is an election year. This is important, and it
    happened by unanimous vote of the United States House of Representatives
    and Senate. So, so much for the conventional wisdom, and good for the
    seniors in America and those of us who hope to be part of the doubling
    of the senior population in the next 30 years.
        Let me also say, I think it's important to point out that it's not
    just seniors who should be happy about this, and I'm glad Flo has got her whole family here. One of the most
    profound worries of the baby boom generation is that, because we are so
    large, when we retire, if we haven't made adequate provision for it, our
    retirement will impose a big burden on our children and their ability to
    raise our grandchildren. So this should be a happy day for Americans of
    all ages today, because a very good thing has been done for the future.
        So I thank you all for being here. I look forward to working with
    you to further strengthen Social Security, to strengthen Medicare. I
    hope we can agree to add a prescription drug

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    benefit there. I hope we can reauthorize the Older Americans Act. I hope
    we can do a lot of other things this year. But the spirit--again, I want
    to thank the Members of Congress, the Republicans and the Democrats, for
    the spirit behind this action. This is how America is supposed to work.
    You have done a good thing today.
        Thank you very much.
        Now I'd like to invite the Members of Congress to come up here for
    the bill signing. And I'd like to invite the seniors to go over this way
    and kind of stand behind me, too.

    Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in Presidential Hall in the Dwight
    D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to
    Florence Mallonee, Social Security recipient, who introduced the
    President, and Brittany Collins, granddaughter of Representative Mac
    Collins. H.R. 5, approved April 7, was assigned Public Law No. 106-182.