For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 5, 2005

President Tours Bureau of Public Debt
Bureau of Public Debt
Parkersburg, West Virginia

10:00 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: See, what's interesting is a lot of people believe that the Social Security trust is -- the government takes a person's money, invests it, and then pays it back to them upon retirement. It doesn't work that way.

MS. CHAPMAN: That's right, that's exactly right.

THE PRESIDENT: This is what exists. And it's very important, then, to make sure that in the future that there's real assets for retirees.

But I want to thank you all for having me come. I want to thank all the workers here for representing the mighty United States. I'm proud to work with you. I thank you for what you do. And my message here in town is that we have an obligation to take the system that Franklin Roosevelt created and make it work for a younger generation of Americans. I'm looking forward to working with Congress to do that. That's what the American people expect. They expect us to modernize the system.

Anyway, thanks for having us.

MS. CHAPMAN: Well, thank you for coming. We're proud to have you visit us.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks.

END 10:52 A.M. EDT