Date: 1983-03-23
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. I cast my vote in support of this legislation after much reflection and despite the fact that I have grave reservations about many of its individual provisions. This is a compromise bill. arrived at after many days of arduous and occasionally acrimonious debate. deliberation. and negotiation. Like every compromise. it contains its share of bitter pills to swallow. I. for one. am especially troubled that this legislation will raise the retirement age to 66 in the next century. Raising the retirement age will mean real hardship for many older Americans who simply cannot continue to work until age 66. but who are not so totally disabled that they can qualify for disability benefits under the very stringent disability definition in curtent law. This provision will particularly hurt blue collar workers. those who earn their living by working with their hands. Many of these people will be forced to retire early at age 62. and will suffer even deeper reductions in their benefits as a penalty. It is my fervent hope that Congress will reconsider this change in future years. and substitute a better alternative for meeting the longterm deficit facing the social security system. Nor is this the only provision in this bill which I could not support. were it not part of a larger. bipartisan compromise. I do not like asking older Americans to delay their costofliving Increase. or to pay taxes on their social security benefits. I do not like asking selfemployed Americans to contribute a greater share to social security or asking working Americans and their employers to pay social security tax increases on an accelerated schedule. I wish that none of these provisions were part of this legislation. Despite these serious concerns. I believe that this is a fair and reasonable package. one which meets the test of evenhandedness and balance in the sacrifice it asks of all our citizens to make the social security system whole again. Under this bill. all those who have a stake in social securitys futurethe 116 million Americans whose taxes support the system. the 36 million beneficiaries who depend upon social security for their livellhood. and those Federal workers and Members of Congress not now a part of the systemwould share in the burden of restoring the system to solvency. I wish that it were not necessary to ask that these sacrifices be made. but what is at stake here is nothing less than the very future of our most important and enduring social program. a system which touches the lives of virtually every American. Today. that system faces a financing crisis of unprecedented magnitude. as well as a crisis in confidence on the part of the American people. whose faith in the system has been deeply shaken by the recurrent crisis surrounding social security in recent years. We must act decisively to end this crisis of confidence. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of those who worked so hard to bring this compromise bill before us. to the National Commission on Social Security Reform. to all the Members of the House and Senate who have worked to improve and pass this legislation. and to the many outside individuals and organizations that have contributed to its development. In passing this legislation. we take the necessary steps to restore social security to both short- and longterm solvency. In voting for this bill. we send a clear message to the American people that this Congress has the political will to keep its promises to those Americans who have faithfully paid into social security in the expeo. tation that it would be there for them when they retire. In sum. I do not like this bill and I wish that the problem would just go away. But when faced with the alternativebankruptcy of the social security systemI have no other choice.