Archer/Shaw Social Security Guarantee Plan

[National Dialogue Moderator <moderator>]

As we've seen recently, there are plenty of politicians from both
parties who don't want to touch Social Security for all the wrong
reasons. We must put politics aside and save Social Security for
all the right reasons. Number one, it's the right thing to do.
Number two, the American people want us to work together to fix
Social Security. And number three, our strong economy and historic
budget surplus give us the best opportunity to act now while times
are good.

We fully expect to get complaints from both the left-wing and the
right-wing about this plan. My friends on the right will say this
DOES NOT privatize Social Security. My friends on the left won't
like this plan because it puts the faith in the American people to
make their own retirement decisions as opposed to having the
government do it for them. But as the old saying goes, when you're
getting criticized from the extremes, you're probably doing the
right thing.

We are doing the right thing. We are meeting the President halfway
and putting our plan on the table, and I hope he will agree to work
with us. Yesterday, I talked with the President on the telephone,
I told him I was introducing this plan today, and asked to meet
with him about saving Social Security. I hope that President Clinton
and I can meet very soon to begin this effort.  Mr. President,
let's show the American people what great things we can accomplish
when we work together.

You might want to check out my website for more information on my
announcement today of the Archer/Shaw Social Security Guarantee
Plan.  My web address for Social Security is:

    http://www.house.gov/archer/social_security/index.html

Bill Archer