John Spratt: “We have a number of different deficits. One is the Social Security deficit. The actuaries at the Social Security…”

“We have a number of different deficits. One is the Social Security deficit. The actuaries at the Social Security Administration tell us that the shortfall in Social Security funding over the next 70 years is $3.7 trillion. What Mr. Bush is now proposing as a purported solution to that is to allow workers to divert 4 percentage points off their payroll tax, one- third of their payroll taxes into private or personal accounts and away from the Social Security trust fund. This will have enormous consequences. First of all, everyone can see that it is counterintuitive. If you have got a trust fund which is $3.7 trillion, do you resolve that problem by diverting a third of the revenues away from that fund, so that you virtually double, and then some, the shortfall in the account? That does not square with anybody's understanding of how to resolve this problem. But it is of particular concern for younger Americans, because they will be paying substantial sums into Social Security, and they may get, unless the reform being discussed is done differently from what the President proposes, the worst they will get out of Social Security. Thus far, Social Security, every generation would say, has been a success story. It has made the fabric of America a better country, a better society. A lot of young people walk up to me, I would say to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), and they say: I do not ever think I will see my Social Security or at least nothing like what is promised to me.…”