OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Social Security

Date: Feb. 10, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net

SOCIAL SECURITY -- (Senate - February 10, 2005)

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, will the Senator from Illinois yield for a question?

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, before I yield, I would ask the Presiding Officer, how much time is remaining in morning business on our side?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 15 minutes 45 seconds remaining.

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I will make a statement that will take about 7 or 8 minutes on Medicare prescription drugs. Then I will yield the remainder of the time to the Senator from Washington.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, that would be great. Can I ask the Senator to yield for one question on Social Security?

Mr. DURBIN. I am happy to yield to the Senator for one question.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I listened carefully to the discussion of the Senator from Illinois on Social Security, and I am curious, because I heard the President say if you are 55 or older you are fine, you will be OK under his new plan. He is targeting it to everybody else. But as I listened to the Senator talk about the fact that money would be taken out of the payroll tax, and we also would be increasing the debt by substantial amounts, do you think someone who is 55 today is going to be OK under this plan 10 years from now when they retire and money has been taken out of the payroll tax?

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, in response to the question of the Senator from Washington, I obviously cannot answer that because no one knows what this privatization plan would do exactly. It certainly is not healthy for the Social Security system to see payroll taxes that had been anticipated and dedicated to paying retirees being removed and put into private investments with the risk attached to them. So I do not think there is any certainty for any retiree if the President cannot come up with more details on what he plans to do. I, for one, think the President's plan weakens Social Security and does not strengthen it.

(The remarks of Mr. DURBIN and Mrs. MURRAY pertaining to the introduction of S. 341 are printed in today's RECORD under "Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.")

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

END

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