Paul Ryan: “I want to talk about the issue of Social Security. Social Security is an important issue that affects every one of us in…”

“I want to talk about the issue of Social Security. Social Security is an important issue that affects every one of us in this country, yet it has become a partisan issue. It should not have to be a partisan issue. We are hearing comments from the other side that basically say do nothing at all to fix and address Social Security. What we are proposing today is to try to come up with a consensus plan to at the very least take the surplus Social Security taxes that we are paying and spending on other government programs and apply that surplus to help workers prepare for their Social Security retirement benefit. At the very least, let us make sure that the surplus taxpayers are paying today and for the next 12 years is dedicated toward preserving their Social Security retirement benefit. That is what we are hoping to accomplish here by trying to have an olive branch of consensus and bipartisanship. That is what we hope to accomplish with this latest plan we have introduced. But more importantly, Madam Speaker, every year we delay fixing Social Security is another year where we add another $600 billion of debt to the Social Security problem. That is according to the trustees. Congress needs to be serious about this. We need to stop being partisan, and we need to fix this very important program. ____________________”