Political Quotes

“in the week of February 27, we are expected to take up the issue of the balanced budget amendment. There has been a lot of talk about Social Security. How this amendment is going to affect Social Security and how changes in that amendment that might better portray what is really happening at the Federal Government. I wanted to talk a few minutes about what the problem is in Social Security. That problem with Social Security is not having enough money coming in to pay the benefits of retirees as we operate on, if you will, a pay-as-you-go system, where existing workers pay the benefits of existing retirees. That is the way it started in 1935 when we passed the Social Security bill. That is the way it has always been, and that is the way it is today. If we look at the problems of the birth rate going down while the number of retired people increase--and they are increasing because they are living longer--we see what happens to the deficits of Social Security. Some suggest, such as Dorcas Hardy, the previous Social Security commissioner, that we are going to be short of Social Security funds as early as 2005. It presents a serious problem to this Congress. Every retiree should be concerned about what might happen to those benefits if we delay some solution.”