Tom Udall: “clearly, this administration and the Congress have done a good job at tackling the issue of terrorism, but there are…”

“clearly, this administration and the Congress have done a good job at tackling the issue of terrorism, but there are many other important issues which need our attention, and one of these is Social Security. Last May, this administration was giving us a different message on Social Security. We were told we could have a tax cut, save the Social Security surpluses, pay down the debt, and fund other urgent national priorities. Today, we are in a far different situation. We are not saving any of the surpluses; in fact, we are spending them. Mr. Speaker, $1.5 trillion over 10 years of Social Security surpluses are going to be spent under the current budget plans. We are not paying down the debt. We are, in fact, increasing the debt, unlike the predictions that were made. Plans are under way to increase the national debt ceiling, so we are headed into more debt, rather than as it was promised earlier we were going to be out of debt in 10 years. Why is the erasing the debt important? It is important because by paying down debt, we are freeing up resources to help save Social Security. At points in our history in dealing with this debt, 25 cents of every tax dollar that comes in has been spent on just servicing the debt. So if we lower that debt amount, that 25 cents, then we are freeing up resources, current resources that are coming in to protect Social Security. That means we are going to have Social Security there for the long term.”