mr. speaker , as the consumer listens to this debate , one of the things i believe that they want to understand is that the advocates of this legislation , they are the ones that , just a year ago , were trying to privatize the social security system .  they wanted to privatize the social security system .  that should not be dismissed .  so this bill is now shuttled to the floor , barely a word of consideration in the ways and means committee , and the republicans on the rules committee would not grant us the opportunity to offer an alternative .  pensions , like social security , should be sacred between the employer and the employee .  there are few things that matter more than long-term security and a guaranteed pension .  now , let me give you the schedule of the ways and means committee .  we found days to discuss a free trade agreement with bahrain , days to hear testimony about bahrain , a country with 700 , 000 people .  and then we took months and months and months , as they attempted to privatize social security .  we spent a disproportionate amount of time , after the american people said , and the wall street journal poll today , by the way , indicates quite clearly how they felt about their privatization plan of social security .  boy , is that clear .  i will bet you on the other side everybody has read that poll by now .  that was a terrible idea , and this is a terrible idea .  so where do we find ourselves ?  this legislation will do more harm than it will do good .  the committee on investment of employee benefit assets , a group that represents chief investment officers from the larger corporations in the country , recently conducted their own survey and concluded that if this were to pass , 60 percent of those employers would either freeze or terminate their pension plans .  everybody knows the most robust debate in america next year is going to take place over retirement security .  reject this legislation .  