Bill Archer: “I sincerely hope that the action we are about to set into motion on this bill at long last results in final passage of…”

“I sincerely hope that the action we are about to set into motion on this bill at long last results in final passage of legislation to make Social Security an independent agency. In my view, this legislation is long, long overdue. Mr. Speaker, shoring up the Social Security System, has been one of my chief legislative priorities since I was elected to Congress. That is the reason I chose to become the ranking Republican on the Social Security Subcommittee when it was first created. It is also the reason why I sponsored one of the first House bills creating an independent Social Security agency with my colleague from Austin, Mr. Pickle, who served as the subcommittee's first chairman. That bill was one of the three to have overwhelmingly been passed in the House over the last decade. As sometimes happens around here, however, the House and Senate were unable to get together on a final product. This time, I strongly hope we in fact see the issue finally resolved. First, because freeing Social Security from the HHS bureaucracy is critical to its survival as a vital public service agency. Making Social Security independent is not a panacea, but I believe that freeing Social Security from the layers of bureaucracy imposed upon it by its current structure within HHS will go a long way in making it less political and both more responsive and more accountable.”