Quotable Quote

"We stand united today to say that a privatization plan that cuts benefits, deepens our debt, and drains the Social Security trust fund is unworkable, unwise, and unacceptable to the American people."

"You know, if President Bush was here, I would advise him as a friend and as an American that there are just three things you don't do. One, you don't spit against the wind. Two, you don't look under the lone ranger's mask. And three, you don't mess with our Social Security."

"I find it absurd and misleading for the President to imply, as he did today, that the Treasury securities held by the Social Security trust fund are not meaningful and safe assets."

"The administration hopes that the excitement about private accounts, pro and con, will hide the unpopular fact that the real measures to shore up Social Security are the proposals to cut benefits"

"After a lifetime of hard work and contributions, do we tell our seniors they are on their own? Is the dignity of life in their later years their problem or one we all share?"

"Congress should act quickly on pension reform because hard-working Americans are suffering daily threats to their retirement security. Any pen¬sion reform plan must insist that employees have accurate, up-to-date information on the health of their employer’s pension plan. It must provide flexibility to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to turn struggling plans around as an alternative to termination where possible. It must ensure that companies that convert to cash balance plans do not penalize older and longer-tenured employees. And it must ensure that companies do not have a double standard in their treatment of executive pensions versus employee pensions when the employee plan is in distress."

"There is no imminent crisis facing Social Security and it is not going bankrupt, no matter how many times Bush tries to paint that grim picture. Social Security will pay full benefits for the next forty to fifty years and almost 80 percent of all benefits after that. Instead of a radical privatization scheme, we have time to make adjustments to strengthen and guarantee Social Security for all generations."

"We’re fighting to strengthen and safeguard Social Security’s guaranteed benefit, but more must [be] done so that every American has the opportunity to build a secure retirement. [We want to] build retirement security by expanding opportu¬nities to save and guaranteeing workers receive the benefits that they have been promised."

"The impact of simply wiping out traditional pensions reso¬nates far beyond corporate boardrooms and company shareholders. It’s a unilateral move to cut out a main clause of our social contract, the model that a majority of Americans and their families have relied on for nearly three-quarters of a century. Are we really ready as a society to declare the end of retirement as we know it? In order to retire, must employees now bear all the costs and take all the risks?…We deserve a truthful conversation about the options that will provide a decent retirement for all Americans."

"Today’s middle-class families are struggling to pay for exploding health care costs, rising college tuitions, and higher gas prices at the pump. Many Americans are also facing the dismal prospect of finding their pensions increasingly at risk as companies such as United Airlines enter bankruptcy. These realities make saving for retirement an even greater challenge."