[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1011-S1012]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. Hollings):
  S. 1678. A bill to amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
Control Act of 1985 to extend and clarify the pay-as-you-go 
requirements regarding the Social Security trust funds; to the 
Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Governmental Affairs, 
jointly, pursuant to the order of August 4, 1977, as modified by the 
order of April 11, 1986, with instructions that if one Committee 
reports, the other Committee have thirty days to report or be 
discharged.


         THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND PROTECTION ACT OF 1998

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my good friend, the 
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Hollings) in offering the Social 
Security Trust Fund Protection Act of 1998, legislation extending our 
current PAYGO budget rules, and clarifying that Congress may not use 
so-called budget surpluses to pay for tax cuts or new spending when 
those surpluses are really Social Security Trust Fund balances.
  Mr. President, it gives me particular pleasure to join with Senator 
Hollings in offering this bill. Both in this body and in the Budget 
Committee, he has been a consistent voice for fiscal prudence in this 
body.
  Mr. President, fiscal prudence is popular in theory, but often less 
attractive in practice. Senator Hollings has taken tough positions, 
even when those positions may not have been politically attractive. 
That is the true measure of commitment to honest and prudent budgeting, 
and I am proud to join him in this effort today. I am also pleased to 
be introducing a measure which is similar in many respects to a measure 
introduced in the other body by Congressman Minge, who has an 
outstanding record of working in a bipartisan manner to bring fiscal 
discipline to the budget.
  The Minge bill, too, seeks to prevent the irresponsible use of Social 
Security Trust Fund balances, and I very much look forward to working 
with the Congressman to advance these proposed budget rules.
  Mr. President, we are entering a budget era of transition. For 
decades, Congress and the White House ran up huge deficits, producing a 
mounting national debt. For the past few years, we have worked to bring 
down those deficits. Those efforts have paid off, in large part, and we 
are now about to consider something Congress has not seen in 30 years--
a unified budget submitted by the President that actually reaches 
balance.
  Mr. President, if we can work together to pass a balanced unified 
budget this year that will be a notable accomplishment, and it deserves 
to be highlighted. But, Mr. President, even if we do pass a balanced 
unified budget this year, that is not the end of our work. Balancing 
the unified budget isn't a touchdown. It's more like first and ten at 
mid-field. It's not a bad place to be, but we still have a way to go.
  But, Mr. President, some act as if the goal posts are really on the 
50; that all we have to do is balance the unified budget and we've 
scored a touchdown. They want to declare victory once the unified 
budget is in balance, and use any projected unified budget surpluses 
for increased spending or tax cuts. Just last week, a member of this 
body was reported to have complained about needing to find offsets for 
tax cuts. The implied intention of that member was to support a large 
tax cut without also cutting enough spending to fully pay for the tax 
cut. Instead, the unspoken intention of this member was to rely on a 
projected surplus in the unified budget as an offset.
  Mr. President, that would be a grave mistake. As the President 
cautioned us during his State of the Union address, we should not touch 
the unified budget surplus. In fact, that admonition may have been just 
as important as the achievement of proposing the first balanced unified 
budget in 30 years.
  Mr. President, while I strongly agree with the President's comments, 
I approach this matter from a different perspective. There are many of 
us who do not view the unified budget as the appropriate measure of our 
Nation's budget.
  In particular, I want to acknowledge my fellow Budget Committee 
colleagues, Senators Hollings and Conrad, for their consistent warnings 
to the body on this very issue.
  Mr. President, as I have noted before, the unified budget is not the 
budget which should guide our policy decisions. The projected surpluses 
in the unified budget are not real. In fact, far from surpluses, what 
we really have are continuing on-budget deficits, masked by Social 
Security revenues. The distinction is absolutely fundamental. As I have 
noted before, the very word ``surplus'' connotes some extra amount or 
bonus. One dictionary defines ``surplus'' as: ``something more than or 
in excess of what is needed or required.''
  Mr. President, the projected unified budget surplus is not ``more 
than or in excess of what is needed or required.''

[[Page S1012]]

Those funds are needed. They were raised by the Social Security system, 
specifically in anticipation of commitments to future Social Security 
beneficiaries. Mr. President, let me just note that the problem of 
using Social Security trust fund balances to mask the real budget 
deficit is not a partisan issue.
  Both political parties have used this accounting gimmick--here in 
Congress and in the White House. But it must stop, and this legislation 
can help us stop it.
  Mr. President, budget rules cannot by themselves reduce the deficit, 
but they can protect what has been achieved and guard against abuse. 
The PAYGO rule governing entitlements and taxes, along with the 
discretionary spending caps, have kept Congress disciplined and on 
track. The bill we are introducing today ensures the PAYGO rule 
continues to require new entitlement spending or tax cuts are fully 
paid for.

  Our bill clarifies current PAYGO procedures to remove any doubt that 
tax cuts or increased spending must continue to be offset. It extends 
the PAYGO rule, which currently covers legislation enacted through 
2002, until we are no longer using Social Security to mask the deficit. 
Under our bill, Congress could not use a so-called surplus until it is 
real, namely when the budget runs a surplus without using Social 
Security Trust Funds.
  Mr. President, earlier I said we are in a budget era of transition. 
With some hard work this year, we can leave the years of unified budget 
deficits behind us. And with some more work, we can move toward real 
budget balances without using Social Security revenues. Mr. President, 
that must be our highest priority.
  If Congress does not begin to rid itself of its addiction to Social 
Security trust fund balances, we will put the benefits of future 
retirees at serious risk. Fortunately, Mr. President, we are within 
reach of the goal of balancing the budget without using the Social 
Security trust funds. If we stay the course, and continue the tough, 
sometimes unpopular work of reducing the deficit, we can give this 
Nation an honest budget, one that is truly balanced. And the time to 
act is now.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1678

         Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
     of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Trust Fund 
     Protection Act of 1998''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF PAY-AS-YOU-GO 
                   REQUIREMENT.

       (a) Extension.--(1) Section 252(a) of the Balanced Budget 
     and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by 
     striking ``enacted before October 1, 2002,'' both places it 
     appears.
       (2) Section 275(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
     Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by striking the last 
     sentence.
       (b) Modification.--(1) Section 250(c) of the Balanced 
     Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended 
     by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(20) The term `budget increase' means, for purposes of 
     section 252, an increase in direct spending outlays or a 
     decrease in receipts relative to the baseline, and the term 
     `budget decrease' means, for purposes of section 252, a 
     decrease in direct spending outlays or an increase in 
     receipts relative to the baseline.''.
       (2) Section 252(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
     Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended--
       (A) by striking ``increases the deficit'' and inserting 
     ``results in a net budget increase''; and
       (B) by inserting before the period the following: ``except 
     to the extent that the total budget surplus exceeds the 
     social security surplus''.
       (3) Section 252(b)(1) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
     Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended--
       (A) in its side heading by inserting ``and amount'' after 
     ``Timing''; and
       (B) by striking ``net deficit increase'' and inserting 
     ``net budget increase'' and by adding at the end the 
     following new sentence: ``The requirement of the preceding 
     sentence shall apply for any fiscal year only to the extent 
     that the surplus, if any, before the sequestration required 
     by this section in the total budget (which, notwithstanding 
     section 710 of the Social Security Act, includes both on-
     budget and off-budget Government accounts) is less than the 
     combined surplus for that year in the Federal Old-Age and 
     Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability 
     Insurance Trust Fund.''.
       (4) Section 252(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
     Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended--
       (A) in its side heading by striking ``deficit increase'' 
     and inserting ``net budget increase'';
       (B) by striking ``deficit increase or decrease'' the first 
     place it appears and inserting ``any net budget increase''; 
     and
       (C) by striking ``any net deficit increase or decrease in 
     the current year resulting from''.
       (5) The side heading of section 252(c) of the Balanced 
     Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended 
     by striking ``Deficit Increase'' and inserting ``Net Budget 
     Increase''.
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