Thomas Daschle: “Let me just say what I have said on several occasions, that we owe the American people our best effort. Before this…”

“Let me just say what I have said on several occasions, that we owe the American people our best effort. Before this amendment was to go out to be voted upon by the American people, we owed it our best effort. The amendment that was pending prior to the last vote is not our best effort. Accordingly, the Senate has acted wisely in refusing to endorse this particular proposal to amend our Constitution. Those who stood against it did so for good reasons. Supporters refused to guarantee that Social Security would be protected. The prospects for this amendment were entirely in the hands of the majority. It was their choice. Until 2 days ago, Senators were asked to bet on the chance that a new and different Senate 7 years from now would honor promises made by Members of this Senate. Two days ago, for the first time, the majority conceded that they indeed intend to do exactly what we and seniors feared--use the Social Security trust funds to balance the budget. In a last-minute attempt to secure one more vote for this proposal, they offered to stop raiding the trust funds in 2012. The offer was later modified to 2010 and, finally, to 2008. They missed the point. Those of us fighting to protect Social Security believe the retirement funds Americans have paid into the Social Security trust funds should be left untouched, period.”