Don Nickles: “I compliment Senator Gramm for reading the bill and trying to do something to protect the integrity of the trust fund.…”

“I compliment Senator Gramm for reading the bill and trying to do something to protect the integrity of the trust fund. He has said, No. 1, if we are going to give them $15 billion, let's make sure we don't spend down the principal. And, No. 2, let's only spend the interest or the dividends from that trust fund to provide new benefits. I support him in that. I compliment him for that. I also have an amendment that wants to protect the integrity of the trust fund. The trust fund, by any of the scenarios--I will show the charts in just a minute--the trust funds goes way too low. The bill's stated objective is to keep the trust fund equal to but somewhere between four and six times the annual payment to beneficiaries. That is their goal. That is their objective. Unfortunately, the bill before us, under the middle assumption, doesn't even come close to that. As a matter of fact, the trust fund goes all the way down to about 1.3 annual payments. In other words, it almost goes bankrupt. It barely has enough to make 1 year's payments of benefits. That is not a good deal for taxpayers, and it is certainly not a good deal for railroad retirees. I don't think it is a good deal for the railroad companies because they are going to be socked with a very large tax increase.”