Delta Airlines' Troubles Reminds Us of Need to Preserve Social Security

Floor Speech

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Delta Airlines executives have warned that the airline's current turnaround plan may be futile and that avoiding chapter 11 will soon be impossible.

In other words, we may soon add Delta to the list of bankrupt airlines and Delta's employees to the list of those whose pension plans are now going to be bailed out by the taxpayers at PBGC.

That should serve as a stark reminder of what is at stake in this debate about the future of Social Security.

Delta Airlines' news is yet another example of America's retirement insecurity. Now we should go ask those Delta employees what they think of Social Security.

For airline employees, steel industry employees, and probably the future of auto industry employees, Social Security is the linchpin to their retirement.

It may come as a shock to some in this Chamber, but the American people like the security that comes with Social Security. They reject the idea of doing to Social Security what is now happening to their private retirement plans. And, most of all, they reject the privatization of one of the most successful programs in the Nation's history.

Mr. Speaker, this debate is about more than the solvency of Social Security; it is about the financial security of every American.

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