Frank Pallone: “let me say in the beginning that myself and other Democrats over the last week, and certainly over the next few weeks…”

“let me say in the beginning that myself and other Democrats over the last week, and certainly over the next few weeks, will take to the floor repeatedly to bring up the issue of the Social Security trust fund, and our concern that the President and the Republican leadership in the House are very determined to push for changes in Social Security that would lead to privatization, and at the same time, the budget that the Republican leadership will bring up to the floor, I understand it will be coming up as early as next week, unfortunately goes into deficit and effectively spends the Social Security trust fund, once again, we have not had this for a couple of years, in order to pay for current expenses. The Republican proposal to privatize Social Security, as well as the proposal to spend the Social Security trust fund for basically ongoing government operations unrelated to a retirement benefit, both of these proposals by the Republican leadership in the House and by the President, will undermine Social Security and make it more difficult for Social Security to remain solvent, and basically shorten the time before we face a crisis in Social Security when benefits will be cut or will no longer be available.”