Minutes - Council - 04/01/1975 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 2 - Oberstar ~/1/75 It costs 65% to administer this program. Social Security pays out $30,000,000,000 to beneficiaries yearly. They have 23,000 employees administering this program. ~000,000,000 Americans are beneficiar- ies. How can she get accurate information on this program? A white paper is availabe. There is concern about the viability of this program. They must insure its long term availability. He said cost is not 60% to administer. Congress must look into the funding. Where is the money going to come from? Will some of the money have to come out of the general revenue? In the past increases in social security benefits have come as a last effort after election campaigns. Many people are drawing on this program who have not paid anything in or will not be paying anything in. Question: What do you see Congress as doing about this? Mr. Oberstar said Mr. Aldeman has said there is going to be a thorough going over of this program. The prospect is for a good, long look at this program. 90% of the benefits are going to retirement age people. In 1990 there will be over 30,000,000 people on this program. People will have fewer children and will be spending more on their own immediate families and will be able te spend more on social security. N.ational Health Insurance: There are 60 co-sponsors on this bill. Where are you going to get the funds to run this program with all the people out of work? He is an old supporter of the Health Secur- ity Act. It will be funded with a health security tax and half from general revenue. There will be no bill this session. It will be coming out next session. National health care today is running $120,O00,0OO,000~' You can cut this cost with this program to 100, O00,0OO,O00. The demand for these services would increase to such an extent that they would not be able to keep the cost down. It will not be coming out of social security program. It will be a separate tax. Mr. Oberstar said the cost would be enormous. A Guest: He said he had 7 children and is paying $1900 in tax this year. He thinks part of this Should go into the social security program. What about the upper Great Lakes regional commission? It is an economic program, ll9 areas, largely distressed. They are eligible for federal grants and loans to generate new jobs and programs. A freeze has been put on this. There will be hearings this summer for a complete revamping of this program. What about the situation in SE Asia now? Answer: It is clear that South Vietnam is down the drain. He thinks it is a very bleak pic- ture. He does not think U.S. should commit any more funds to this area. We have put in $130,000,000,000 with 300,000 injured and 30,000 casualties. He does not feel we have an obligation in South Vietnam. He doesn't think we have an obligation in Cambodia. He doesn't subscribe to the domino theory. He thinks the administra- tion has painted themselves into a corner. He doesn't think Aus- tra'lia or Malaysia is linked to Vietnam. The Ambassador from Cambodia said the U.~S. is,~t~o~om.e~.~xt'ent responsible for the pre- dicament and that it will be a hard day for his people. Mr. Ober- star's constituents do not want any-more involvement in SE Asia.