Hilda L. Solis: “today I rise to inform President Bush about what my constituents in the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles are…”

“today I rise to inform President Bush about what my constituents in the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles are saying about Social Security. In my district where there are nearly 60,000 Social Security beneficiaries, people are very concerned about the risky privatization scheme. To date, my office has held 15 senior center visits, high school visits, parent center visits, and health care facility visits. Over 500 constituents have been contacted about this issue. My constituents at Club America and the Federation of Seniors, whose members reside in east Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, are overwhelmingly opposed to privatizing Social Security. I have received well over 300 letters in the past 2 weeks from people who are very worried about their benefits. In fact, Mr. Raymundo Romero from Los Angeles says: "President Bush is claiming a mandate to privatize Social Security. I'm writing to tell you that he has no mandate from me, or from most other Americans, to cut Social Security benefits or add to America's financial burdens in order to reward Wall Street backers with risky private accounts." And I have about 300 letters that say about the same thing. So I urge our Members of Congress to reject privatization.”