Don Nickles: “This compares present law to this bill, under those assumptions. Present law under the employment assumption, the middle…”

“This compares present law to this bill, under those assumptions. Present law under the employment assumption, the middle assumption, shows in current law a trust fund balance of $19.3 billion today and $34 billion in the year 2025. Under the Daschle amendment, or the bill we have before us, we start at $19.3 billion, and in 25 years we end at $8.5 billion. In other words, the trust fund is only about-- well, it is 75 percent below where it is today, or where it would be under current law. That is assuming a 21-percent payroll tax in the last few years. So even with enormous payroll tax increases, the fund is still in serious jeopardy of being able to pay benefits, being able to provide security and assurances that there is going to be money there for retirees who maybe worked most of their lives and depend on it. I have put this in the Record because I want people to see it.”