Frank Pallone: “President Bush has invented an immediate Social Security crisis, but his privatization proposal does nothing to solve…”

“President Bush has invented an immediate Social Security crisis, but his privatization proposal does nothing to solve his invented crisis. Why would President Bush propose a Social Security privatization plan that leaves the program worse off after he is done with it? Madam Speaker, the President does not want to fix the Social Security program we have had in place for the past 70 years. Instead, he wants to privatize it. He talks about creating an ownership society, but his proposal creates an on-your-own society. Madam Speaker, for 70 years, Social Security has improved the lives of millions of Americans. Without it today, two-thirds of America's seniors would be living in poverty. Social Security gave our parents and grandparents independence. Democrats are willing to work with the President in a bipartisan fashion to address Social Security's future, but we simply refuse to support the President's privatization proposal that dismantles the independence Social Security affords our senior citizens today and our children when they retire in the future. We will work with the Republicans on trying to deal with the Social Security problems that exist in the future, but we cannot support privatization.”