Doris Matsui: “At this time, we have tapped into the Social Security trust fund, in other words, money that is payroll tax, money that…”

“At this time, we have tapped into the Social Security trust fund, in other words, money that is payroll tax, money that people think is going into a trust account to pay for their retirement benefits, by $1.7 trillion. That includes debt service, and it includes spending programs that we will have over the next 2 or 3 months. If we extend the tax cut, if we pay for the defense bill, the farm bill, the President's Medicare proposal in terms of his prescription drug proposal, we could add to that another $1.5 trillion, and make a total of $3.2 trillion. If in fact we do those things, and I think most people will agree we are going to have to do many of these things, we are going to make it impossible to solve the Social Security problem in America. We are going to make it impossible to make sure that we continue benefits for our senior citizens. It is my hope that good judgment and common sense will finally come to us in this institution.”