Karen Thurman: “Mr. Speaker, let us start this debate with the words of Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, who said just last…”

“Mr. Speaker, let us start this debate with the words of Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, who said just last week, and I quote, ``Anything, whether it's tax cuts or expenditure increases, which significantly slows the rise in surpluses or eventually eliminates them would put the economy at greater risk than I would like to see it exposed to.'' Well, today, instead of following his advice, we are being asked to take up one more bill that not only eats away at the projected surplus but also removes an earmark source of funding for Medicare and replaces it with IOUs. Let us go back to June 20, when this House debated lockbox legislation for Medicare. I do not want to embarrass proponents of this bill with their comments, but let me remind them of what was being said in that debate. ``Simply adding IOUs to the trust fund in effect mandates that taxes will be increased on our kids and our grandkids.'' We are no longer dealing with a lockbox, we are opening Pandora's box. And this is a box I will not open.”