[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E594]]
                     THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND

                                 ______


                         HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 14, 1995
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, it is time to measure our progress in 
protecting the Social Security Fund, specifically the Old Age and 
Survivors Insurance Fund [OASI]. This is the fund into which we all pay 
throughout our working lives and from which we expect to receive 
benefits when we retire.
  In my tenure in the House of Representatives, I have had the 
opportunity to cast votes to protect the Social Security trust fund 
several times. Perhaps the most important vote I have cast was in 1990 
when I voted to take the Social Security trust funds ``off-budget.'' 
The purpose of this action to ensure that the Social Security trust 
funds would no longer be used to mask the true size of the Federal 
deficit. Instead, the trust fund would have a separate account. The 
administrative costs of the Social Security Administration were not 
taken ``off-budget.''
  This action moved us closer toward honest accounting procedures and 
away from the concept of the ``unified budget,'' a mechanism to place 
all revenues in one large pot from when the Government can draw. 
However, it turns out that the language included in the 1990 law was 
not enough to protect the trust fund.
  In 1993, President Clinton undermined the trust fund by proposing a 
tax on Social Security beneficiaries at a rate of 85 percent of their 
benefits. The money collected from this tax would not go back into the 
trust fund, but was instead diverted to other programs in the Federal 
budget. I strongly opposed this tax. In fact, I went to the Rules 
Committee and offered an amendment to strip this tax on Social Security 
from the underlying budget legislation. But, the Rules Committee did 
not allow my amendment and the 1993 budget containing the tax on Social 
Security benefits passed into law with my strong objections.
  Later in 1994, I had the opportunity to cast a vote in favor of 
making Social Security an independent agency. This legislation passed 
the House and Senate and became law. This means the Social Security 
Administration [SSA] is no longer counted as part of the Department of 
Health and Human Services. Thus, the budget for Social Security is 
completely contained in one agency and the administrative costs of the 
trust fund are clear and set aside with the ``off-budget'' trust funds. 
For the first time, there will be a bipartisan governing board that 
insulates the SSA from political influence and the everyday fiscal 
policy decisions of the administration in power. In fact, several 
improvements in the Social Security system as a whole will result from 
this change. It will now be much easier to monitor and thus, protect 
the Social Security trust funds. I am proud to have supported this 
important change in the system that
 bolsters the security of the trust funds.

  This year, I cast a vote to support the balanced budget amendment 
[BBA]. This, too, was a vote to protect the security of the Social 
Security trust funds. During consideration of the BBA I voted for an 
amendment offered by my friend from Illinois, Representative Flanagan, 
to express the sense of the House of Representatives that Social 
Security would not be used to balance the Federal budget. This 
amendment passed and will provide crucial direction to the House in 
future years as we seek to balance the budget.
  However, if Social Security had been statutorily exempt from cuts, I 
believe there are many who would try to expand Social Security to 
include benefits for nearly every group of Americans imaginable. Many 
of the benefits paid out by the Social Security Administration do not 
go to retirees, but rather drug addicts, children with learning 
disabilities and the like. I am fearful that this would not only 
continue, but expand under a system where only Social Security had an 
``exempted'' status.
  I have explained several key votes I have taken to protect the Social 
Security trust funds in the past several years. I do this because the 
people in the 14th district of Illinois want to know that their 
retirement benefits are safe.
  In fact, a group that believes strongly, as I do, that these benefits 
be removed from the national budget and set aside for the intended use 
of retirees has recently contacted me. I have presented this history of 
my position to indicate that I am in full agreement. Congress should 
not use Social Security funds to balance the budget or mask the budget 
deficit, but rather to fund the earned benefits of our country's senior 
citizens.


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