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Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with Senator Durbin for up to 30 minutes.

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I just told my colleague from Illinois: It has been a ride. We have been trying to set up a process, a process whereby Congress would consider a solution--not prescribe a solution, consider a solution--for Social Security, a process that would have Members of the House and Members of the Senate come together fully open for input from stakeholders, from citizens, to have something to present among all the proposals that are out there--two proposals, three proposals--and whatever we put up would not be the final solution necessarily. It could be replaced by any other Member of the Senate with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.

And people won't even set up a process. We are not talking about a solution. We are talking about a process that would come to a solution maybe that still has to get 60 votes in the U.S. Senate.

Folks say: We need more time. Dick Durbin just chuckled. He goes: They have had 44 years. They have had 44 years. How much more time do they need?

I have got a couple cartoons just to make the case. I think that if we don't set up this process, Congress will be kicking granny off the cliff. That was made famous long ago. There it is. She earned it; she deserves it; she counts on it; and Congress will not set up a process by which to address the issue. Mr. President, 75 million retirees, widows, widowers, others rely on Social. In 6 years, the program, the trust fund--the trust fund goes insolvent. And when that happens, according to the actuaries, there will be either an almost 29 percent benefit reduction or a 40 percent increase in payroll taxes on working Americans.

If that trust fund goes insolvent and that benefit is cut 28.5 percent, as the actuaries say it will, the rate of poverty among Americans over age 65 will increase by 50 percent--by 50 percent.

So here is another cartoon. Congress made a promise, and some people want to ignore it. She paid in; she earned it; she relies on it. But if you ask: Should we do something about Social? Apparently, for some people, the time to do something on Social is never.

Don't disturb Congress. They don't want to take a tough vote--even if that vote only sets up a process--it doesn't even propose a solution--a process whereby Congress is required to fix the issue.

By the way, Social has always been important. It is even more important now that Americans are living longer. And every year we delay fixing Social, the amount of cuts required to balance it increase or the amount of taxes required to fix it increases or the amount of money we have to borrow to fix it increases. There is no good thing about waiting except it allows Congress to dodge its responsibility.

I want to compliment my colleague from Illinois. He came up to me and he goes: Bill, I am leaving the Senate. We need to make a run at fixing Social.

I am leaving the Senate. We need to make a run. By the way, we have a solution, but we are not saying it has to be our solution. All we are trying to do is set up a process by which solutions can be considered. And running out the clock, it may be politically convenient, but it is the wrong thing to do.

Congress' obligation to the American people, to the people that rely upon Social Security, is to act, and it is to act now.

I have another cartoon here just to make the point. It is not just older people affected; it is younger people. Sorry, young folks. You are getting left behind because some say it is not our problem. The Social Security system is going insolvent, and these folks can pay into it. They will never receive a benefit.

These young pages here, they don't recognize it yet, but they are contributing every month on the wages they are getting to a system that will not be there for them unless we do something now.

So before I defer to my colleague, I will just say once more: All we are doing is setting up a process to propose solutions that may or may not pass, that any Senator can bring their own bill and have it as an amendment in the nature of a substitute. It is up to Congress, though, to find a solution.

Now, history will decide whether Congress took up the responsibility of addressing the issue or whether because it was politically advantageous, politically expedient to kick the can down the road once more, even though the road is about to end in a dead end, or, in the case of one of our cartoons, a cliff.

Here. We built a bridge and decided not to finish it. Here. The folks that need to get across the bridge of Social Security will get to it someday. We have got to get to it now. That is the point.

Let's set up a process to be considered. We are talking about the PROMISE Act, which is a Dick Durbin--lead author--Bill Cassidy bill. And there may be another way, but let's set up the process. With that, I defer to my colleague.

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, Senator Durbin is referring to what's called the PROMISE Act. Again, it is a bill which sets up a process to come to a solution. It doesn't dictate what the solution is.

We have colleagues who are objecting to coming up with a process, and so it is important for our country that Congress tackle this issue. And when I say ``our country,'' I mean the people who live here. And the people who live here, whether they are older or whether they are younger, they are relying upon Congress to step up to its responsibility.

Thank you, Senator Durbin. We will continue to push on this. It is important for our Congress, important for our country, important for our people.

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