Dick Durbin: “I ask my colleagues on the Republican side, they say it is voluntary and all about giving people a choice. What kind of…”

“I ask my colleagues on the Republican side, they say it is voluntary and all about giving people a choice. What kind of choice do you give people who do not want to open a personal account, who don't want to privatize? The choice you give them is to see their monthly Social Security benefit reduced. The average benefit of $900 will go down, if you decide that you don't want to play the stock market, you don't want to invest. I have to ask you, How voluntary is that, if you are going to reduce the monthly benefit payment to those who do not sign up? And, the ultimate cost of this, since you cannot come up with a way to pay for the $2 trillion, could be as much as 40 percent of that current $900 monthly value. How voluntary is that? What kind of choice does that person have, when they lose the benefit they counted on all their working years?”