July 24,2001

Grassley Comment on the Social Security Commission's Interim Report

M E M O R A N D U M

TO: Reporters and Editors
FR: Jill Gerber, 202/224-6522
RE: Social Security commission report
DA: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a leader of the Committee on Finance, is a long-time advocate of preserving Social Security for baby boomers and future generations. He held hearings on that issue via the Special Committee on Aging, which he chaired until this year, and was a principal sponsor in the last Congress of bipartisan legislation to preserve Social Security. This year, as Finance Committee chairman, Grassley convened a joint hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee to look at Social Security and Medicare’s financial future. Grassley made the following comment on the interim report of President Bush’s Social Security commission.

“I commend the President for his commitment to Social Security reform. This issue requires leadership from both the Capitol and the White House. Timing is important, too. A complex and challenging task like saving Social Security should get under way as quickly as possible. The President’s commission and Congress should develop a plan that has strong bipartisan support. I’m disturbed that some members of the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill already are advocating the position that Social Security is just fine as is. That’s not the case. If we don’t take
action, Social Security will go broke, plain and simple. To those who accuse Republicans of fear-mongering, I’d say the greatest fear for the American people is that Congress will do nothing.”