When we talk about the surplus, let us not take Social Security and Medicare into account. Let us take it off the table. Yesterday I was in southeast Arkansas, the Delta region, one of the poorest regions in the country. People young and old were telling me that they want the politicians to keep their hands off of Social Security and Medicare. This is a personal issue with me. You see, my grandfather died when I was a year old. My grandmother first learned how to drive a car, she got her GED, and then she went to nursing school. She is 89 now. She is blind, and she lives from Social Security check to Social Security check. 

  That is why I, along with the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. MOORE), have offered an alternative, a meaningful lockbox initiative that protects both the Social Security and Medicare surpluses. It is H.R. 560. It has no loopholes; it has no keys to unlock the box. That is why it is supported by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Nation's second largest senior advocacy group. 

     If you truly want to protect Social Security and Medicare, then take the time to compare H.R. 2 with H.R. 560. If you do that, then I am convinced we will join together, like we are here today, and do the right thing by my grandmother and by seniors all across America.