On the recordJuly 20, 2010
In House floor consideration of the railroad retirement program, it was made very clear time and again by both sides of the aisle that this plan for railroad retirement was not a formula for Social Security. Both sides were at pains to say that because of the difference in scale of the programs and the difference in purpose of the two retirements, Social Security and railroad retirement act. That's not to say that it couldn't be reconsidered at some future time, but it was made very clear then. You have some 600,000-plus railroad retirees and 33 million Social Security retirees. We all realized at the time the scale is vastly different. The purpose and the revenue streams are very different. So it was a very clear purpose on both sides of the aisle, not to confuse, not to roll over from one to the other.
