Chuck Grassley: “Regardless, before us is this amendment that reduces the amount of Social Security income that must be reported for…”

“Regardless, before us is this amendment that reduces the amount of Social Security income that must be reported for taxation. One of the issues I didn't mention in my debate against the amendment is the fact that all the money raised from this tax goes into the Medicare health insurance trust fund. We all know the Medicare Program is in much more serious condition than the Social Security Program. The Medicare trust fund has a drop dead date of 2026. The Social Security trust fund has a drop dead date of 2042. None of those dates are anything that I am making light of, that they are so far off that we should not be concerned. We have to be very concerned. But people ought to understand that to the extent this amendment is adopted, it would take money out of the Medicare health insurance trust fund. And I don't think we ought to be doing anything to weaken the Medicare trust fund.”