Washington, D.C. —
“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 that 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 our retirees.
“Madam President, 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, we need to stop the partisan games and the political brinkmanship to find a solution that saves and strengthens Social Security for the Future.
“Madam President, 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. Madam President, I remind my colleagues that we must put all the good ideas on the table.”
“Madam President, 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, we need to stop the partisan games and the political brinkmanship to find a solution that saves and strengthens Social Security for the Future.
“Madam President, 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. Madam President, I remind my colleagues that we must put all the good ideas on the table.”