"In Pennsylvania, Social Security benefits supported 470,442 jobs, $70.9 billion in output, and $4 billion in State and local tax revenues."
"Some have suggested that we ought to reduce the amount that Americans can save in tax-deferred accounts. I think that is a bad idea."
"So is it fair to say that, economically, there are no real assets backing up the certificates in the trust fund and the existence of the trust fund does not have any impact whatsoever on the overall a..."
"We have to face the music too. We have to preserve those entitlements for which people have paid."
"I think we are kidding ourselves if we think that somehow everything is fine for several decades because we have this nominal trust fund that we treat as though it were real assets, and it is fundamen..."
"I think we ought to defend and encourage these provisions that help people to save."
"It is just stunning, the hammer blows that the middle class has endured--and the folks who are just below the middle class."
"what is the ability of the Federal Government to honor the commitments that it has made to current retirees and future retirees in the Social Security program?"
"I do not think there is any question that you do not need to have a degree in economics or a lot of advanced learning to look at the data on what has happened to the middle class over the last 4 years..."
"Let us not look at Social Security as a piggy bank to solve the deficit."
"That is a really stunning number."
"For senior non-married women, the poverty rate is 16.3 percent by the official measure, with another 11 percent near-poor."
"I want to thank Senator Brown for calling the hearing and for the work that he and Senator Toomey did to bring this hearing about."
"I think we all have a pretty serious obligation to get this right."
"I truly believe in the message of the Statue of Liberty, which ultimately had the welcoming of those who were coming to this country for opportunity."
"I think that is the basic point that we want to emphasize that we don't have an epidemic of abuse that can be documented."
"Isn't the credible fear process designed to weed out clearly non-meritorious, frivolous cases?"
"wouldn't it be a problem to raise the standards, hurting other people just to try and weed out what may be an undocumented fear?"
