John Shaw: “Mr. Speaker, this committee has no jurisdiction with regard to social security. If we do not solve the problem of social…”

“Mr. Speaker, this committee has no jurisdiction with regard to social security. If we do not solve the problem of social security, it will become a problem in about 2014, because we will be looking for appropriations to put money into the social security trust fund to pay off the Treasury bills that are in the trust fund to keep the benefits flowing. That is my greatest concern, and I think this should be America's greatest nightmare at this particular time. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the appropriations process. We have to leave this to another day. We have to work together to solve this problem. If we start putting cash into the social security trust fund now, through the appropriation process under the law governing the social security trust fund, that money just comes right out the other end and is converted into Treasury bills. It does not in any way affect the solvency of the social security trust fund and as far as what date is it going to have to go out and tap into the taxpayers to get some money to take care of its obligations and the benefits.”