Doris Matsui: “I think the good news is the fact that the Senate will change in another week. This will be the last extreme bill that…”

“I think the good news is the fact that the Senate will change in another week. This will be the last extreme bill that we will have before the body that will be sent to the President. I would like to point out a few things. One, the document that showed that we have a $5.6 trillion surplus over the next 10 years, that same document said that there was only a 50 percent chance of accuracy that these 5-year numbers are correct and they have no basis to make an accuracy projection on the 10-year numbers. This could have been $8.9 trillion or $1.6 trillion or perhaps 0. So we are basing this $5.6 trillion surplus on speculation, and that is exactly what this bill is all about. Now, let me just make a couple of observations. The chairman of the committee says that this will not affect Social Security, because in the 10-year window, it will not have any impact on Social Security. The reason for that is because in the year 2014, 13 years from now, is when Social Security has the cash flow problem. So basically, yes, for the next 10 years, it may not have an impact on Social Security, but it will have a devastating impact on Social Security in terms of its long-term survivability. I will say that a 'yes' vote on this bill, will mean that senior citizens will, in fact, have significant reductions in their benefits.”