Byron Dorgan: “this, I think, is the debate we ought to have in this country on the subject of Social Security. I am pleased to hear…”

“this, I think, is the debate we ought to have in this country on the subject of Social Security. I am pleased to hear the Senator from Idaho describe the plan proposed by Governor Bush and describe the proposal by Vice President Gore on the issue of Social Security. If you read history, you will find there are people for the last nearly 70 years who have predicted that Social Security won't work, will go broke, and won't be there when they retire. Decade after decade, people predicted that in every community around this country, especially the small towns of North Dakota. There are people living better lives because the Social Security Program provided them something called ``security.'' Does it provide for all their needs? No. But it is a bedrock security for their retirement years. They invested in it when they were working and now they have Social Security in their retirement years. The word ``security'' in Social Security is not some accident. People understood that the purpose of Social security is just that--security. It is the economic baseline of retirement, the one means of financial support that Americans can count on. As I indicated, there are people who, every decade, have said the sky is falling with respect to this program.”