Judd Gregg: “I just wanted to return to the specifics of the resolution, because I do think it is important to note that the…”

“I just wanted to return to the specifics of the resolution, because I do think it is important to note that the resolution put forward by the Democratic membership is a resolution which tracks the statements made by the President in his State of the Union Address, which were that we should save Social Security first, we should reserve the surplus until we have saved Social Security first. That is a paraphrase, but I think it is an accurate paraphrase. In other words, the President did not say, ``We shall use the surplus to save Social Security.'' No, he chose his words very precisely. He said, ``We would reserve the surplus until Social Security is saved.'' If you look at this proposal brought forward by the Democratic leadership, it says, ``Save Social Security first by reserving any surplus.'' It doesn't say the surplus is going to be used. It says they are going to reserve it, again. What is the difference here? We are saying use the surplus to save Social Security. They are saying reserve the surplus until Social Security has been saved. So all of the arguments they have made relative to the surplus and how it ties into the need to have the surplus for the purposes of benefiting the Social Security system really are not supported by the terms and specifics of their language because they are not even saying they intend to use the surplus to save Social Security.”