U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Social Security's current revenue streams, proposed changes…

Despite these tax increases, Social Security is still in trouble.

Social Security will be unable to pay benefits promised in the future, and how the program needs to be strengthened for generations to come.

I don't think there are very many of us that want to impose a tax on any state.

Thank you. You know, you guys didn't talk about raising the age limit at all. I am surprised.

I thank you all for being here today. This subcommittee will continue to monitor progress to make sure that Social Security is done right, within its means.

I agree with your last statement, wholeheartedly.

Workers' hard-earned payroll taxes fund the majority of the benefits Social Security pays out each year.

Social Security is not overly generous. Social Security hasn't gotten too big when it comes to what it provides to Americans.

It does disturb me that some of the proposals we see from my Republican colleagues call for nothing but cuts to the benefits in Social Security.

I don't think any of us up here--on this side, anyway--want to raise taxes. But we will have to see what falls out.

Yes, it is negative overall, in my view, too.

When Social Security first began, the payroll tax was only 2 percent--evenly split between employers and employees--on the first $3,000 in wages. Today the payroll tax is 12.4% on the first $106,800 in wages. Yet despite the tax increases…

Yes, and small businesses--our studies indicate that is where most of the jobs are created.

Last Congress, the Democratically controlled Congress, passed a health care overhaul and a stimulus bill that were supposed to control health care costs and extend the life of the trust fund.

I want to put some real structure in place for the FCC, not just for clarity in the industry, but also to move it away from what many of us view as an agency that is starting to implement their own political agenda as opposed to an agency…

So you are not consulting the medical community at all.

As a heart surgeon, I had the tremendous privilege of operating on thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, and I can tell you patient by patient perhaps better than anybody in this room, I understand the value of the Medicare program and the…