Political Quotes

“I want to take a few minutes today to discuss the enormous importance of America's most critical safety net program--Social Security. In particular, I want to talk about the Social Security Disability Insurance program and introduce a proposal to secure the financing of Social Security. Of all the strands woven together in America's safety net, disability insurance is one of the most successful at keeping vulnerable people in Oregon and across the country out of poverty. It is a vital lifeline for people who suffer from catastrophic illnesses or disabilities, including a million veterans. The time has come for Congress to take an expected but important step to preserve Social Security's strength into the future. The trust fund for the disability insurance portion of Social Security is set to be depleted in 2016. This doesn't mean the program will stop paying benefits but does mean that it will only have dedicated tax revenue to pay about 80 percent of benefits. This isn't a late-breaking crisis; this is something that Congress has anticipated for more than two decades. And it is a simple issue to resolve. For a defined-benefit system like Social Security, it is not unusual to adjust the dials of funding between the retirement program and the disability program as needed. That way, the entire program remains as strong as possible. Benefits go out in full and on time.…”