i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i rise today in support of the effort to defeat the previous question . 
if the previous question is defeated , my bill , h.r. 1330 , the social security trust funds protection act , will be brought before the house for debate and a vote . 
my bill would ensure that social security payroll contributions can not be diverted to establish private accounts . 
i know that people say that social security was not meant to be the only source of retirement income , but the sad reality is that for too many people it is the only source of retirement . 
amelia valdez from pueblo , colorado , gave me this photograph about 2 weeks ago . 
as she gave it to me , she looked up into my eyes with tears as she said , `` this is a photograph of franklin d. roosevelt signing the social security act in 1935 . 
please hang it in your office as a reminder. '' she continued and said , `` please do not let them dismantle my only source of income. '' in rural america , social security keeps tens of thousands of people from falling into poverty . 
my democratic colleagues and i are committed to keeping our promises to american workers . 
we will fight to strengthen social security so that american worker gets the benefits that they were promised . 
creating private accounts will only hasten the demise of social security by draining trillions of dollars from the social security trust fund . 
we can not forget the lessons that we learned from enron . 
a retirement fund that relies on the stock market is simply not a secure benefit . 
the proposal to privatize social security would mean a 40 percent cut in benefits . 
it simply does not make sense to change the social security system program so that it cuts benefits . 
the first step towards saving social security is to make sure that the payroll moneys are only used to pay social security benefits . 
i urge my colleagues to vote `` no '' on the previous question so that we can protect the retirement security of every american . 
