[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
[April 21, 2005]
[Pages 641-650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America
Legislative Conference
April 21, 2005
Good morning. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's a little early for
the Texas delegation. [Laughter] I hope you're behaving yourselves. I
know you are, since Billy Gammon isn't
here. [Laughter] I am
[[Page 642]]
pleased to be with the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of
America. Thanks.
Laura told me on the way over to give you all
her best. Generally what happens when I mention her name, most people
say, ``Well, I wish you'd have sent her.'' [Laughter] She's doing great.
She is a--really a fine person, a great mother, great wife, and a great
First Lady for America. I'm a really lucky guy when she said yes when I
asked her to marry me.
I really appreciate your inviting me, and I appreciate your work. I
appreciate the way more than 300,000 of you around America help our
fellow citizens--help our fellow citizens protect their property, help
our fellow citizens provide for their families in case of calamity.
Thanks for what you do. Thanks for being good stewards within the
communities in which you live.
I oftentimes tell people that the great strength of America is not
our military, although we'll keep it strong. The great strength of
America is not the size of our wallets. The great strength of America is
the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens who work in the communities
in which they live to feed the hungry, provide hope for the hopeless,
provide shelter for the homeless, who love a neighbor just like they'd
like to be loved themselves. I know that's what you all do on a daily
basis in the community in which you live, and thank you for making
America a better place.
I welcome you to the Nation's Capital, where sometimes politics gets
in the way of doing the people's business. Take John Bolton--he's a good man I nominated to represent our
country at the United Nations. John's distinguished career and service
to our Nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time
for this important assignment. I urge the Senate to put aside politics
and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations.
Politics in Washington has also made it hard for some to put aside
their differences to come to the table to strengthen Social Security.
And that's what I'm here to talk about today. I want to spend some time
with you talking about the fact that Social Security is headed for deep
trouble and that those of us who have been entrusted by the people to
serve our country need to act now to make sure the Social Security
system is there for our children and our grandchildren.
I want to thank Bob Rusbuldt for
giving me a chance to come. I appreciate the invitation. I want to thank
Tom Grau for his leadership role as well. But
most of all, thank you all for your interest.
The men and women of the Big ``I''--I think that's what you call
yourselves--[laughter]--appreciate the principles that are important for
a healthy and strong America. And I appreciate the principles that you
stand for, planning for the future and providing Americans with more
choices and working to get your friends and clients a better deal. I
appreciate your commitment to standing with your clients until their
claims are settled, to help people through the rough spots. You're
ensuring the American Dream, and I appreciate that as well.
By protecting homes and the savings of millions of families, you're
helping this Nation be more secure for a lot of folks. And that's what
I'm interested in. I'm interested in a secure nation. I'm working to
make sure this Nation is a prosperous nation. And we're working hard to
spread freedom and the peace we all want.
We have an ambitious agenda here in Washington. There is a lot to
do. The war on terror goes on. We're still at war. There is still a
ruthless enemy that would like to harm our country. They want to do us
harm because of what we believe. We stand for freedom and liberty and
human dignity and the rights of minorities, the right for people to
worship freely. And we're not going to change. And they don't like it.
But we're going to keep pressure on them. We'll work with friends and
allies. We will be unrelenting in our efforts to bring the
[[Page 643]]
terrorists to justice, and we will not rest until America is safe.
In the long run, the best way to protect America is to change the
conditions that give rise to hopelessness and extremism. That's the best
way to protect generations of Americans to come. And the best way to
change the conditions that give rise to hopelessness and extremism is to
spread freedom.
I oftentimes tell audiences this--and it's important for our fellow
citizens and people around the world to hear this--that freedom is not
America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each
man and woman in this world. I believe all people desire to be free. I
believe moms in the Middle East want their children to grow up in a
peaceful world so their children can have--can realize their God-given
potential. That's what I believe. And if you believe that, then you have
an obligation to help spread that freedom. And freedom is on the march.
Incredibly exciting times to live in, when you think about what has
taken place in a relatively quick period of time. The other day at the
Lincoln Library opening in Springfield--and if you're here from
Springfield or Illinois, you've got yourself a heck of a library.
[Applause] You know what I'm talking about. Well, you don't know yet. Go
see it, and then you'll know what I'm talking about. [Laughter] I said,
sometimes freedom moves slowly, like water cutting through a rock. I
said, but sometimes, when people see the example of courage, freedom
moves like a wildfire.
Think about what's happened in a quick period of time. Afghanistan
is free. Millions of people voted for a President, in spite of the fact
that only a short time before that, they were under the brutal control
of the Taliban. Or in Ukraine, when people went to the streets to demand
free and fair elections--or Kyrgyzstan or in Lebanon. By the way, our
message is very clear to Syria: Take out all your troops; take out all
your intelligence services; and give the good people of Lebanon a chance
to have free and fair elections.
The world saw the courage of those who have freedom etched in their
soul in Iraq, courage of over 8 million citizens who are willing to defy
terrorists and killers and car bombers, to say with a message that
resonated around the world, ``We want to be free. We're willing to take
risks to vote.'' A free Iraq is important to America's security, is
important for generations of Americans to come to have an ally in the
war on terror, like Iraq. Today, the people of Iraq decide the fate of
their Government and not the other way around.
I look forward to working with the new Government of Iraq. I look
forward to working with those who have been chosen by the people to meet
the challenges that this country faces. As Iraqis stand up for their
freedom, this country will stand with the people of a free Iraq. As a
new Government assumes increasing responsibility for their country,
security operations are entering into a new phase. Iraqi security forces
are becoming more self-reliant; they're becoming better at what they do.
They're taking on greater responsibilities, and that means America and
its coalition partners are increasingly playing a more supportive role.
Today--I don't know if you realize this or not--over 150,000 Iraqi
security forces have been trained or equipped. For the first time, the
Iraqi army, police, and security forces now outnumber U.S. forces in
Iraq. We're working on establishing chains of command. We're working to
make sure civilian government understands that there needs to be
stability in the security forces. Like free people everywhere, Iraqis
want to be defended and led by their own countrymen. That's easy to
understand that thought and desire. And that's what we want. That's the
strategy of the United States. And so we'll help them achieve this
objective so they can secure their own nation. And when they're ready
and
[[Page 644]]
equipped, our troops will come home with the honor they have earned.
We've got a lot of work to do to spread freedom abroad, and we've
got work to do to pursue progrowth economic policies here at home. And
our goal is pretty clear: We want America to be the best place in the
world to do business. That's what we want. We want it to be the best
place to risk capital. We've overcome a lot. We've overcome a recession
and a terrorist attack and corporate scandals and war. But our economy
is growing.
Let me tell you what I think we need to do to continue to grow our
economy so people can realize their dreams. First, one of the heaviest
burdens on business is the litigations costs in America. Recently I was
proud to sign the Class Action Fairness Act, a good piece of
legislation. It was a critical first step toward ending the lawsuit
culture in our country. Class-action reform succeeded because members of
both parties saw a serious problem and joined together. That's a hopeful
accomplishment in a town too often bitterly divided because of politics.
And so my message to the Congress is: Stay focused on what you can do.
Now we can do more work on--when it comes to legal reform.
We need to take action on asbestos legal reform. We need to make
sure health care is available and affordable, and one of the ways to
make sure health care is available and affordable is to do something
about the junk lawsuits that are running good doctors out of practice.
You know, when I first came to Washington, I thought medical
liability reform would--could best be handled at the State level, until
I realized what the cost of the defensive practice of medicine, the cost
of settling lawsuits, the rising costs of premiums do to the Federal
budget. I mean, if you think about the cost in the Federal budget and
the cost of frivolous lawsuits in the Federal budget, you begin to
recognize why I think it's now a national problem.
Listen, we pay for Medicare; we pay for Medicaid; we pay for
veterans' health benefits. All those costs are affected by junk
lawsuits. Medical liability reform is a national problem that requires a
national solution. And now is the time for the United States Senate to
listen to doctors and patients and concerned citizens, not to the
powerful trial lawyer lobby, and get me a medical liability bill.
I also understand the importance of small business in creating jobs
in our country. That's why I worked with Congress to help reinvigorate
our economy, to help strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit by enacting
the largest tax relief in a generation. It's important to have certainty
in the Tax Code. Congress must understand that. And that's why I've been
urging to make sure that Congress makes the tax relief we passed
permanent.
Today, in large part to small businesses such as--like yours, more
than 3 million new jobs have been added to our economy since May of
2003. Today, more workers--more Americans are working than ever before
in our Nation's history. I applaud the House of Representatives for
taking the side of small businesses last week for voting to repeal the
death tax. The death tax results in unfair double taxation. They tax
your assets while you're alive; then they tax your assets when you're
dead. [Laughter] I believe we ought to bury the death tax forever. By
doing so, it will inject vital life into the small-business community;
it will increase fairness in the Tax Code; it will help promote economic
security. The Senate--the Senate needs to join the House in repealing
the death tax forever.
I want to spend a little time with you on Social Security. You know,
I know this is one of these issues that some wish I hadn't have brought
up in Washington. It's one of these issues that I suspect some of them
are really saying, ``Gosh, I wish the President hadn't decided to take
this issue on.'' I campaigned on the issue. I said to the American
people, ``If you give
[[Page 645]]
me a chance to serve, I will bring this issue to focus.'' That's what I
said in campaign stop after campaign stop, ``Just give me a chance, and
I'm going to talk about reforming the Social Security system.'' I'm
confident Members of Congress, when they really think about that, will
say, ``Gosh, it's good to have a President who does in office what he
said he would do on the campaign trail.''
I also believe it is my duty and my obligation as your President to
confront problems now and not pass them on to future Presidents and
future generations. That's why I've traveled the last few weeks to over
22--to 22 States, talking about Social Security. I mean, I have a
strategy. First, I want to lay out to the American people we have a
problem, because I believe once the American people hear the problem,
they're going to then say to those of us who have been elected, ``What
you going to do about it?'' So I'm going to spend a lot of time talking
about this issue.
You see, I think it's--and the reason why is because I know how
important Social Security is to the country. Franklin Roosevelt did a
good thing when he created the Social Security system in 1935. I'm sure
you've got relatives who depend upon the Social Security check. I meet
people all the time in our country who say, ``You've got to understand,
Mr. President, how important that check is to me.'' There's a lot of
folks in this country who count upon that check when it arrives. In
other words, the system has provided an important safety net for a lot
of our fellow citizens.
And so the seniors who receive their checks must hear this loud and
clear: Don't fall prey to the propaganda, those who are trying to scare
you when there's talk about making sure the Social Security system is
modern. If you're receiving a check from Social Security today, you'll
receive a check next month and the next month after that and for every
month you're alive. The Federal Government will keep its commitments to
the seniors who are relying upon Social Security. If you were born
before 1950, you're in good shape with the system as it exists today.
You're going to get your check.
The problem is, our Government has made promises to younger
Americans that it cannot keep, and that's important for our fellow
citizens to know. It's important for them to know that there is a hole
in the safety net. The safety net for citizens who retire is in good
shape if you've been born before 1950. If you were born after 1950, you
better pay attention to the issue.
First, as I travel the country, I find out some people think there's
such a thing as a Social Security trust. By that I mean we collect your
money through the payroll tax, and we hold your money for you, and then
when you retire, we give you your money back. No--[laughter]--that's not
the way it works. That's what you call a--it was set up as a pay-as-you-
go system. In other words, you pay, and we go ahead and spend.
[Laughter] You pay through payroll taxes, and we spend your payroll
taxes on making sure we cover the benefits of the retirees. And with the
money leftover, like there's money leftover now, we spend it on other
Government programs. So instead of having a trust, we have a pay-as-you-
go system, and that which exists in the system is a filing cabinet, or a
series of filing cabinets, full of IOUs. In other words, we've got
paper.
And the reason I bring this up to you is that it's really important
for our citizens to understand how the system works, first and foremost.
In other words, when you're talking about strengthening and modernizing,
you've got to understand that all that is left over in the system today
is paper.
This pay-as-you-go system worked just fine for a while. In 1950,
there were 16 workers paying taxes for each beneficiary. That's not a
very heavy load for a worker to pay one-sixteenth of the promise to the
beneficiary. Today, there's 3.3 workers per beneficiary. By the time our
children and
[[Page 646]]
grandchildren retire, there will be 2 workers for every beneficiary. So
you're beginning to see, the math is changing for Social Security--fewer
people paying in the pay-as-you-go system per beneficiary, but that is
only part of the problem.
To compound the problem, baby boomers like me and a lot of you will
be eligible to retire in 4 years. See, I'm turning 62 in 4 years. It's a
convenient time, 4 years for me to retire. [Laughter] The retirement of
baby boomers will have a huge impact on the pay-as-you-go Social
Security system. And here's why: My generation is about 50 percent
larger than my parents' generation. Today, there are about 40 million
retirees receiving benefits. By the time all the baby boomers have
retired, there will be more than 72 million retirees receiving benefits.
We're going to be living longer too. Medicine has changed to help us
live longer. A lot of us are exercising a lot. I would strongly urge
exercise if you want to live longer and make right choices for what you
put in your body. But we're living longer than the previous generation.
And the problem even gets further magnified because Congress has
made sure benefits to my generation grow faster than the rate of
inflation or even the economy. In other words, people who ran for office
said, ``Vote for me; I'm going to make sure your benefits go up.''
So think about what has taken place and what will take place
relative to the pay-as-you-go Social Security system. You've got a lot
of people retiring who are living longer, who have been promised greater
benefits, with fewer people paying into the system. Those are the
dynamics that have made this issue a critical issue, particularly for
younger generations of Americans coming up.
Social Security system 3 years from now will start heading into the
red. In 2017, Social Security will start paying out more in benefits
than it collects in payroll taxes--the pay-as-you-go system, money
coming in, money going out. More money will be going out than coming in
in 2017, and every year thereafter, the situation gets worse. In other
words, the cash deficit for that year accelerates. In 2034, the annual
shortfall will be more than $300 billion. In 2041, the system will be
broke--bankrupt. So we've got a problem coming down the road.
Now, I recognize here in Washington, 2017 may seem like a long way
away. It's not all that far away. That's 12 years from now. If you've
got a 6-year-old kid, your kid is going to be voting. If you think
that's long, you haven't raised a kid yet. [Laughter] It happens just
like that. If you're a grandparent, you're going to get your check. But
you've got to be wondering about whether or not the burden is going to
be so heavy on your grandchildren that the America they grow up in is
going to be a country burdened by obligations that a Congress in 2005
was unwilling to confront.
You see, the longer we wait to fix this problem, the more drastic
the solutions become. As a matter of fact, the Social Security trustees
say every year we wait to fix the system will add an additional $600
billion to the cost of reform. In other words, if this city gets locked
down because of politics, that lock-down costs a future generation $600
billion every year. In other words, we've got a serious problem. And the
point the trustees make is, ``Why don't you fix it now? Why don't you
come together to get something done?''
If we wait--in other words, if you say, ``Oh, gosh, well, it's too
difficult to do,'' or, ``We don't want to make so-and-so look good
relative to such-and-such,'' if we wait, it's conceivable younger
workers will have to have a payroll tax of about 18 percent in order to
make good on the promises. That's not going to work, folks. If we wait,
the benefits promised to a lot of folks are going to have to be slashed
dramatically, or other Government programs affected.
[[Page 647]]
So recognizing this problem, I stood up in front of the Congress at
the State of the Union and said, ``Here's the problem.'' I also said,
``Bring forth your ideas.'' See, I don't view this as a Republican
problem. I don't view it as a Democrat problem. I view it as a national
problem that requires people to come forward, say, ``Here's my idea,''
or ``Here's another idea.'' We've had a lot of people starting to come
forward.
People have come forward in the past. I was telling President
Clinton when I traveled with him to the
Pope's funeral--which, by the way, was a magnificent event. It was just
unbelievably spiritual and--it was great, in recognition of a great man.
But I said, ``I remember your--I think it was 1996 townhall meeting in
Albuquerque.'' He probably said, ``What are you watching C-SPAN at such
a late hour for?'' But, anyway--[laughter]--and people were encouraged
to bring forth ideas on how to permanently solve the Social Security
problem. That was in '96.
Former Democrat Congressman Tim Penny
has come forth with good ideas. I asked the late Senator Daniel Patrick
Moynihan of New York to put together a bipartisan Commission to look at
Social Security--this was in 2001. They came forward with a lot of good
ideas. There's a Democrat Social Security expert named Robert
Pozen who believes we ought to restructure
benefits and be more generous to low-income workers. That's a good idea.
All ideas are on the table. That's how you get the job done.
And when somebody puts an idea on the table, you can rest assured
the White House will not attack them. And that's important for people to
hear as well. Now is the time for a civil debate on how to solve this
national problem. Now, I do believe the reforms ought to be guided by
certain principles: We ought not to raise the payroll tax rate. Social
Security must continue to provide dignity and peace of mind for those
with lower incomes. That's an important principle for a good retirement
system. We've got to make sure that the solution is a permanent
solution, by the way, and not a temporary fix.
I really appreciated the spirit in 1983 of President Reagan and
Speaker O'Neill and others who said, ``We got a problem with Social
Security. Let's come together and fix it.'' That's the kind of spirit
that I'm confident will prevail eventually here in Washington. By the
way, this is the 22d anniversary of the 75-year fix on Social Security.
[Laughter] In other words, at the time they said, ``We got us a 75-year
fix.'' The problem is, 22 years later we're now talking about, let's
make it permanent this time. And so, when Congress debates these issues,
it's really important to make sure that we have a permanent fix, that we
get it done once and for all.
I'm looking forward to hearing more good ideas as people discuss the
issue. By the way, I'm encouraged; I believe we're going to get
something done. After all, the United States Senate looked at the issue
and passed a resolution that said we ought to fix Social Security
permanently. That's an interesting vote. You had the two
Senators from Texas voting yes and the two
Senators from Massachusetts voting yes.
That's called bipartisanship. [Laughter] See, they made it clear;
they're on record. Every single United States Senator is on record
supporting a permanent fix for Social Security. And now those Senators
need to keep their word and make Social Security solvent once and for
all.
Bringing permanent solvency to Social Security is an important
start, but it's only part of our duty. Preserving Social Security should
not mean preserving its problems. Today, we have an opportunity--as we
permanently solve Social Security, we have an opportunity to make--to
give younger Americans a better deal when it comes to the Social
Security system. And I want to spend a little time talking to you about
what I mean by that.
See, I think we ought to give every American the opportunity to own
assets.
[[Page 648]]
I love the concept of spreading ownership throughout America. And I know
we've got to give younger Americans the opportunity to tap into the
power of compound interest so they have a chance to get a higher rate of
return on their own money, on their own assets than the current system
allows. Sometimes in Washington, we seem to forget whose money we spend.
You see, those payroll taxes, that's not the Government's money. The
payroll taxes are the hard-working people's money. And it seems like it
makes sense to me to give the hard-working people a chance to earn a
better rate of return on their money than the Government does.
And so I think we ought to give younger workers the opportunity to
save, in the Social Security system, through what's called a personal
retirement account. Essentially, that would be a conservative mix of
bonds and stocks that grows over time. Today, the real rate of return in
the Social Security for your money is about 1.8 percent. At that rate,
it will take you nearly 40 years to double your money. If you put the
money in the market and get a 4-percent return, your money will double
in about 18 years. If you get the historical market average of 7
percent, your money will double in just over 10 years. That's what's
called the miracle of compound interest at work.
We have a fellow with us today named Wright Noll. He's 67 years old. He's married with five children. He
spent about 30 years as a schoolteacher and an assistant principal and
most of that time in Bend, Oregon. By the way, it's a nice place to
live, right? He took what you might call a sabbatical and spent 6 years
as a dairy farmer. This guy is a hard-working guy. At one point he held
three jobs.
Wright says he paid roughly the same amount
of money into both Social Security and the Oregon State pension plan for
government employees. Unlike the money Wright put into Social Security,
the money he paid into Oregon's plan was saved and invested. As a
result, the money in the Oregon plan benefited from the power of
compound interest, and he got a better--bigger retirement check. Today,
Wright's monthly Social Security check is about $1,152 a month; his
monthly check from the Oregon retirement system is nearly $5,400. That's
the power of compound interest.
When, he said, he started getting his
retirement checks, he went out and bought himself five brand new shirts.
[Laughter] He said, ``I never did that before because, being a
schoolteacher with five kids, you have to shop at the used clothing
store.''
I appreciate you coming, Wright. I
appreciate you letting me use you as an example of missed opportunity
for a lot of people because of the way the current system is structured.
You see, I think we need to give everybody a chance, if they so choose,
to put some of their money in a personal savings account, a conservative
mix of bonds and stocks, so they can get a better rate of return on
their money. It's a voluntary idea. I mean, Government ought to not
mandate this idea. But Government ought to say, ``We ought to give you
the opportunity, give you a chance, if you so desire.''
In my proposal to Congress, I said, ``Well, why don't you let a
person set aside a third of their payroll tax into a personal savings
account?'' Let me give you what that would mean for a younger worker who
earned $35,000 over his or her lifetime. If you allow that person to set
aside a third of their payroll taxes with a reasonable rate of growth on
their money, that person earning that amount of money over their
lifetime would have a nest egg of about $250,000 upon retirement. That
would be a nice addition to other Social Security benefits. It's a part
of the retirement plan. That would mean that person would have their own
assets. Their asset wouldn't be tied up in a file cabinet in West
Virginia. Their asset would be theirs to call their
[[Page 649]]
own, an asset they can pass on to a--to whomever they choose, a son or a
daughter.
These voluntary accounts would--obviously, you'd have strict
guidelines. You couldn't take your money and put it in the lottery. In
other words, there's go-bys. There's a--the investment vehicles are
conservative in nature. You've got to make sure your--we'll make sure
the earnings aren't eaten up by hidden Wall Street fees, make sure
there's good options to protect investments from sudden market swings on
the eve of retirement. That happens all the time in the financial
community, where if a person is getting ready to retire and wants to
convert from stocks and bonds to annuities--it happens all the time. You
know what I'm talking about; you do it all the time in advising people.
These accounts will offer straightforward investment choices that
are easy to understand. And I'm not talking about something new here.
This isn't a new invention. In Ohio--if you're from Ohio, you know what
I'm talking about--thousands of government employees at the State,
county, and local level have personal retirement accounts as part of
their retirement system. I just went to South Carolina; all new State
employees can choose between their traditional retirement plan and a
personal retirement account with a conservative mix of bonds and stocks
to deliver a better rate of return for them.
I don't know if you know this or not--Congress knows it--Federal
employees, including Members of the United States Congress, have the
option of taking some of their money and putting them into a
conservative mix of bonds and stocks. They've got the opportunity to do
that. Do you know why they gave themselves the opportunity? Because they
want to get a better rate of return on their money. I believe if this
opportunity to put aside personal savings account--money in a personal
savings account is good enough for the United States Congress, it's good
enough for working people all across the United States.
Do you know what's really interesting about today's society? Some of
you older fellows out there probably didn't spend much time talking
about 401(k)s, when we were in our twenties--or IRAs. I mean, the
investment world has changed, hasn't it? It really has. I mean, there's
a lot of young people who are comfortable with the idea of taking some
of their own money and watching it grow. They're used to making
decisions about their money. I mean, after all, the world really has
changed when it comes to retirement plans and companies trusting people
with their own decisionmaking. Offering young workers a 1930's-era
retirement system is like trying to persuade them that vinyl LPs are
better than iPods. [Laughter]
Voluntary personal accounts are a way of bringing Franklin
Roosevelt's promises of retirement into the 21st century. Creating
accounts will give children and grandchildren a chance to replace a
burden of uncertainty with new opportunity. Instead of leaving their
full retirement, all their retirement in the hands of future
politicians, younger workers will be able to take part of their
retirement in their own hands. I like that idea.
Instead of sending their money to Washington so politicians can
spend it, younger workers will be able to put part of their money into
an account they own that nobody can take away from them. Instead of
forfeiting years of Social Security contributions if they die before
retirement, which happens in the current system, younger workers would
have peace of mind that their personal accounts could be passed on to a
loved one.
My administration works hard to spread ownership throughout America.
I want more people owning their own home. I want more people owning
their own small business. I want more people owning a piece of their
retirement, because I know that when a person owns something, they have
a vital stake in the future of this country. And ownership should not be
confined
[[Page 650]]
to just a few people in our society. Owning an asset and being able to
pass it on to your son or daughter should not be the purview of a few.
In this great land, ownership ought to be spread to everybody--every
single person.
As Wright Noll will tell you, the power of
compound interest is important as well. He sees it every month in the
checks he gets. Members of Congress need to listen to the people. A lot
of people in America now understand we have a problem. A lot of people
are sorting through the data. They're listening to the debate. They're
hearing all the noise coming out of Washington. But they're hearing we
got a problem. I'm going to keep talking about it over and over again
because I want the people to understand the stakes of doing nothing.
Older Americans are beginning to hear loud and clear that if you get
your check, nothing changes. And that's important for our citizens to
hear. I'm sure some of you all have got a mom or a dad wondering what
old--``Why is George W. talking about this? I want to make--just tell
him, make sure I get my check.'' [Laughter] You'll get your check.
You'll get your check.
There are some folks around this town trying to scare you because
they don't want to see anything happen. But our citizens who count on
Social Security will get their check. Baby boomers like me, we're fixing
to retire, and there's a lot of us. This is an important issue for us,
but it's really an important issue for your children and grandchildren.
We have an obligation to save and strengthen this important program
for generations of Americans to come. And when Congress acts, there will
be plenty of credit for everybody involved. And when they do, our
children and grandchildren will one day look back and be grateful that
our generation made the difficult choices and the necessary choices to
renew the great promise of the Social Security system for the 21st
century.
Thank you all for giving me a chance to come by.
Note: The President spoke at 9:24 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. In his
remarks, he referred to William ``Billy'' Gammon III, president, William
Gammon Insurance Agency, Inc.; and Robert A. Rusbuldt, chief executive
officer, and Thomas Grau, president, Independent Insurance Agents &
Brokers of America, Inc.