Social Security

SOCIAL SECURITY

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the President of the United States is on the road today. He is taking his case for privatization of Social Security around the United States. It is an interesting debate. It is a good debate because it gets down to the heart of the question.

I joined with some Democratic Senate leadership--HARRY REID, BYRON DORGAN, and several other colleagues--and we went on the road last week to New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Las Vegas to talk about this issue. We are engaging the American people because we believe it is an important debate.

I think we should start the debate by agreeing on some very basic points, and the first point on which we should agree is that at the end of the debate, Social Security will still be there, it will survive, and we are all committed to it. Any proposal that comes from anyone of either political party that weakens Social Security and lessens the likelihood that it will be there as a safety net for America should be summarily rejected. That is why we on the Democratic side have said we want to sit down with President Bush and the Republican leadership to make Social Security strong, but first we have to take privatization of Social Security off the table because privatization of Social Security, as the President is proposing, will weaken Social Security, it will not strengthen it. It takes trillions of dollars out of the Social Security trust fund, a trust fund that has already been raided by politicians for years. It would be devastated by taking out this much money.

The President is calling for taking the money out of the Social Security trust fund that is going to be used to pay off retirees in the years to come.

How do they make up for this? The President's White House proposes cutting the benefits for retirees as much as 50 percent. So if someone is receiving $1,200 today, had the President's plan been in effect from the beginning of Social Security, they would be receiving around $500. It is a dramatic cut the President is talking about. It would push many senior citizens into poverty, not to mention add dramatically to our national debt, a debt which is already too large, will be increased this year by our deficit spending, and a debt which is financed by foreign countries. China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan hold America's mortgage.

President Bush's privatization plan means that mortgages will grow substantially, from about $8 trillion to at least $15 trillion by the President's calculations. That means our children, who are supposed to be benefited by this so-called privatization, will not only have to gamble their retirement in the stock market, but also face the payment of this debt. That is fundamentally unfair.

Many people have said: Why don't the Democrats come forward with a plan on Social Security? I will tell my colleagues the Democratic plan in three words: Social Security first. If any plan to strengthen Social Security does not guarantee that this safety net and the benefits people can count on for retirement will be there in the years to come, it is not a plan we should even consider. Privatization cannot meet that guarantee.

I yield the floor.

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