How does one leave Social Security and Medicare untouched, grow defense by more than $50 billion, slash taxes, launch a $1 trillion infrastructure program - and not explode the deficit and national debt?
Since 1935, this has been a pay-as-you-go system, and I always believed when I first started talking about Social Security that there was a little box that had my name on it and it had my benefits for when I retired. That is not true.
These smugglers, many of them present in trafficking through my State of Arizona, create false Social Security cards, false green cards, visas and a variety of other fraudulent documents as an essential part of their smuggling activities.
Social Security must be preserved and strengthened. But we need to be candid about the costs and willing to make the tough choices that real reform will require.
Indeed, I think most Americans now know that in 1935 when Social Security was created, there were some 42 Americans working for every American collecting retirement benefits.
It's not 2038 that Social Security is bankrupt. It's now.
More young people believe they'll see a U.F.O. than that they'll see their own Social Security benefits.
Privatizing Social Security doesn't make sense, and it's out of step with the fundamental value of ensuring that after a life spent working hard and contributing to the greatness of our nation, every American should have a secure retirement.
You can be sure that I will always consider how changes to Social Security will impact people with disabilities when considering the various proposals offered for reform.
Social Security is not broke, and Social Security does not need to be privatized.
Almost half of all Latinas currently on Social Security rely exclusively on their benefit check in retirement.
Without in any way minimising the economic and psychological blow that people experience when they lose their jobs, the unemployed in affluent countries still have a safety net, in the form of social security payments, and usually free healthcare and free education for their children. They also have sanitation and safe drinking water.
I don't understand the Democrats' approach to Social Security in this country, and I'm not alone.
I've developed a lot of reform proposals myself and been accused of trying to destroy Social Security, when the whole point was to try to save it. I think most people know that Social Security is bankrupt.
All of us who serve in the House of Representatives and the Senate pay into Social Security.
Social Security is the very foundation of retirement security for millions of Americans.
The president and Republicans in Congress have repeatedly promised to revisit Social Security privatization after November. But Americans have already said, loud and clear, that they don't want Social Security to be privatized or dismantled.
Today more people believe in UFOs than believe that Social Security will take care of their retirement.
My neighbors aren't millionaires. They're retirees who depend on Social Security and Medicare.
In other words, Social Security is every bit as insecure as the stock market.
If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.
The Republican promise is for policies that create economic growth. Republicans believe lower taxes, less regulation, balanced budgets, a solvent Social Security and Medicare will stimulate economic growth.
Drawing on President Bush's reform plan, which would allow citizens to transfer part of their Social Security contributions into personal accounts, an alteration of the current system is needed to make necessary change.
Even people who feel perfectly comfortable investing in the stock market and owning their own homes often have qualms about individual medical accounts or Social Security private accounts.
The first year of the Bush administration we used up all of the surplus and ended up just with the Social Security and Medicare surplus, and each year worse than the year before.
I do not believe that the Social Security system is in crisis.
Race to race, the Republicans are putting up candidates that are quite far out of the mainstream in terms of should we have passed the Civil Rights Act or does Social Security need to exist.
The administration's reckless plan doesn't do one thing to ensure the long term security of social security, rather it undermines our economy. We need a budget and a fiscal policy that reflects the values and interests of America and restores fiscal discipline.
I wish that the Democrats would put some effort into Social Security reform, illegal immigration's reform, tax reform, or some of the other real issues that are out there.
Make no mistake, if the payroll-tax cut is extended, it will become permanent. Social Security will become another welfare program as the tie between what someone pays and what they receive gets broken.
Social Security is a plan that actually was designed in a much different time, in a different era, and with a different set of American demographics in mind.
Our political leaders must be honest and forthcoming with data that will allow citizens to use facts and figures to judge for themselves what state Social Security is in.
Social Security makes up a much larger share of total retirement income for unmarried women and minorities than it does for married couples, unmarried men and whites.
We're an air bag society that wants guarantees on everything that we buy. We want to be able to take everything back and get another one. We want a 401-k plan and Social Security.
It is time for the general fund to pay the Social Security fund back.
While Social Security faces some long-term challenges, the system is not in crisis.
