Bill Clinton: “we are here on the floor this morning, after last night's State of the Union Address, to begin what is going to be a…”

“we are here on the floor this morning, after last night's State of the Union Address, to begin what is going to be a debate about the future of Social Security. Now, last night we did not receive any details from the President, and we do not know exactly what the President intends to propose. But based on the reports in the press and some of the briefings coming back that Senators have held with administration officials, there seems to be an expectation that the President will do several things. First, launch a very aggressive campaign, using every tool at his disposal, which is considerable, to persuade the country that Social Security is facing an imminent crisis, and that the responsible course of action is to do something, preferably what the President will recommend, and that the irresponsible course of action is to somehow argue with or question this presumption of there being a crisis. Secondly, it appears the President's plan will include privatization. Now, I understand the White House has sent out the word they do not want to use that word anymore, but let's not be fooled. What they are attempting to do is take a Social Security system that has worked for generations of Americans and begin the process of privatizing it.”