Social Security

SOCIAL SECURITY -- (Senate - February 17, 2005)

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I rise to echo the words that were just spoken by my colleague, the Senator from Kentucky, distinguished majority whip, with respect to an issue that is incredibly important to the Senate and to the people of this country. The issue is the future of Social Security. The program as we know it today will not last. It is headed for bankruptcy. That is why President Bush and others have done the responsible thing-to begin to raise the issue of reform.

The question before us is, How do we fix the system for our children and for our grandchildren? I would like to commend the Republicans and the Democrats who have acknowledged and agreed that a problem exists with the current system and that we can do better.

Going back to 1998, President Bill Clinton at that time called Social Security "a looming crisis" and then went on to detail the deep benefit cuts or massive payroll tax increases that would be required if nothing was done in the very immediate future.

It takes political courage for Members of both parties to be open to reform. Members of both parties have expressed their concern about the current system and about the possible improvements brought about by adding personal retirement accounts.

Social Security is an extremely complicated program. Sometimes it is difficult to grasp numbers in the trillions and dates that are decades from now. That is why it is helpful to tackle this issue in a way we can all understand. For me, the decision to find a fix for Social Security became clear when I thought about two extremely important people in my own life-my father Harold and my daughter Brittany.

My father Harold Thune turned 85 this last December. He is a retired teacher, still living in the town I grew up in, Murdo, SD, with my wonderful mother who was the school librarian. My father also served his country as a decorated World War II fighter pilot. He is the essence of hard work and sacrifice. He has put in his time. I would never do anything to the Social Security benefit that he has earned. Because my parents never struck it rich working for the Murdo public school system, they depend upon their Social Security check. Many other retired Americans are in similar situations.

For one-third of Americans over the age of 65, Social Security benefits constitute 90 percent of their total income. As President Bush outlined his principles regarding Social Security reform last month in the State of the Union, he made it very clear that Social Security benefits would remain unchanged for anyone 55 years of age and older. This includes everyone in retirement and those nearing retirement age.

The system will be there for those who have paid into the system with a lifetime of hard work. No politician is proposing to cut benefits from my father's generation. Despite what we might hear from those who are defending the status quo, reform proposals work to solve the problem for younger workers, not take away the benefits from America's seniors.

That brings me to another important person in my life who has helped me better understand the need to fix Social Security. That is my oldest daughter Brittany. Brittany is 17 years old, and she is a junior in high school at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, SD. Soon she will be entering the workforce. God willing, she will live a full life and reach retirement age in 2055. The Social Security trustees tell us that Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits by 2042, which is 13 years before my daughter Brittany could retire. That means even though Brittany will have paid into Social Security throughout her entire working life, the benefit promised to her will be cut by at least 25 percent according to the trustees.

This is the problem. If we do nothing, our children and grandchildren will not see the benefits that are promised to them. Brittany's benefits would be cut by at least 25 percent and probably more.

The reason this will happen is nothing more than simple demographics. When my father Harold was working in the 1950s, there were 16 workers for every Social Security beneficiary. Today there are only three workers per beneficiary. When my daughter retires, there will be two workers per beneficiary. The current pay-as-you-go Social Security system will not be able to handle the demographic shifts as the number of workers goes down and the number of retirees goes up.

A majority of younger voters understand there is a major problem with the current system for their generation. A Newsweek poll earlier this month found that 62 percent of those age 18 to 34 believe Social Security will not be there for them when they retire. Predictably, young Americans are frustrated with the prospect of spending a lifetime paying into a system that is destined for bankruptcy.

Some in Washington believe the best approach is to push that problem down the road; leave it for another Congress and for another President. I call that the "sweep it under the carpet" caucus. The American people sent us here to solve problems, and they expect us to do just that. To the sweep it under the carpet caucus, I say: Don't hide behind the status quo. Don't resort to the politics of fear and to scaring seniors. Your constituents and my constituents deserve better of their elected representatives.

If we do nothing, we are looking at a $10 trillion shortfall. The longer we wait, the more expensive the fix will become. If we find a solution today, most experts agree it will most likely require $1 trillion. One trillion today or $10 trillion tomorrow-those are the options.

The predicament could be somewhat more manageable if we didn't start seeing problems until Brittany and her classmates start retiring. No, the looming crisis is coming much sooner than that. The Social Security trustees have told us that beginning in the year 2018, a little more than a decade from now, Social Security will begin paying out more in benefits than it is currently taking in.

This means we will need to start dramatically raising taxes, taking on massive loads of new debt, or accept severe benefit cuts in just 13 years to cover our promise to retirees.

We cannot wait on the sidelines and let this problem come to us. We need to face it and we need to attack it by putting all ideas on the table. We need to stop the quibbling, the partisan games, and political brinkmanship to find a solution that saves and strengthens Social Security for the future.

I ask my colleagues not to engage in futile bickering over individual ideas that may be put forward by some as part of the larger solution. My guess is, the solution will involve a number of ideas packaged together. Let's not dismiss or attack individual ideas as being inadequate before we have had a chance to assess their positive effect as part of a whole solution.

I remind my colleagues that we must put all the good ideas on the table. My two elderly parents and my two young daughters are constant reminders of what is at stake in this debate. We must ensure that today's seniors' benefits are rock solid and find a solution that fixes Social Security for the next generation that is just entering the workforce. We need Senators on both sides of the aisle to think not only about what is good politics, but what is good for their children and their grandchildren.

As this debate engages, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to listen to the voices of the people around the country and to understand that they expect us to come here to solve problems. That is why they have elected us, not to kick it down the road, not to sweep it under the carpet for another Congress and another President to deal with. If we wait, the cost will be much higher and the American people, the taxpayers, will experience a much higher degree of pain. It is the taxpayers who are ultimately going to have to bear the burden for the lack of responsibility demonstrated by the leaders of today if we choose to do nothing.

I look forward to this debate as it gets underway. I urge my colleagues to acknowledge what is clear, what is obvious: We have a problem. The second thing that is clear and is obvious is that the American people sent us here to solve problems. Let's not sweep it under the carpet or kick it down the road; let's do the responsible thing and acknowledge this is a problem that needs to be fixed. The solution will require bipartisan support in this Chamber and in the House of Representatives. We must work together to save and strengthen Social Security not just for my father's generation but also for my daughters' generation.

I yield back the remainder of my time, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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