Kenny Hulshof: “we face--all of us--a daunting challenge. To solve it, we must begin our work now and put partisan differences aside. As…”

“we face--all of us--a daunting challenge. To solve it, we must begin our work now and put partisan differences aside. As we proceed, we must do two things: First and foremost, we must honor our commitment to today's seniors and those who will retire soon. The green checks the Social Security Administration mails each month to one in six Americans are the backbone of retirement income for the nation. Secondly, we must also protect younger Americans so that Social Security works for them as well. Today is a good time to reaffirm that Social Security was originally intended to supplement retirement. It is just one leg of what is referred to as a 3-legged stool with the other two legs being private pensions and personal savings. On the latter point, Congress continues to look for ways to encourage personal savings so that thriftiness is rewarded not punished. This discussion today is about the extent to which future retirement should be a public responsibility and how much it would be a private one. If we delay reform, we shorten the time needed by the American people to accumulate savings and adjust their plans for retirement. Long-term changes must be made while the ``baby boomer'' generation is still in the work force and has time to make adjustments. While the solvency of Social Security is a slow-motion crisis, to America's workers in their 20's and 30's, there is an immediate crisis--a crisis of confidence.…”