[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 20 (Wednesday, March 4, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          BALANCING THE BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Minge) is recognized for 5 minutes.

  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office 
announced that they anticipate we will have an $8 billion surplus in 
this fiscal year. This is a remarkable announcement. It is an historic 
announcement.
  We have waited for over 30 years for the good news that the budget 
would, at long last, be balanced. However, as important and as 
significant as this may be, I urge that we not celebrate excessively. 
Why is this? It is because we still have a great deal of heavy lifting 
to do.
  The announcement does not recognize the tragic condition that we face 
as a Nation with respect to our fiscal affairs. First, it does not 
recognize that we continue to operate on a consolidated Federal budget 
or unified Federal budget which rolls all trust fund operations into 
the bottom line.
  As a consequence, it glosses over the fact that we are borrowing $100 
billion in fiscal 1998 from the Social Security Trust Fund because that 
Trust Fund is running a surplus. It is running a surplus because the 
baby-boom generation is in its peak earning years, and it is 
contributing at the maximum level, and it is not drawing out.
  So in reality, if we would discount this subsidy to the operating 
budget from the Social Security Trust Funds, we would not have an $8 
billion surplus. Instead, we would have a $92 billion deficit.
  We have some heavy lifting to do to overcome this $92 billion deficit 
that remains. That is one reason we should not celebrate too strongly.
  Secondly, we have to remember that we have a debt of approximately 
$5.4 trillion, approximately $20,000 for every man, woman and child in 
this country. Indeed, it is heartwarming to learn that under one theory 
of calculating the budget, we have a surplus of $8 billion. But, 
remember, this is little more than about $17 for each man, woman and 
child that we can take off of that $20,000 debt.
  So, again, we have a long ways to go. In fact, if you look at the 
years over which this surplus has been projected, we would probably not 
be able to reduce that debt by as much as even $1,000. So we have a 
ways to go in terms of making a dent in this vast national debt.
  A third reason that we should not celebrate too strongly is that we 
have obligations that we have incurred in the operation of the Social 
Security program and the Medicare program that are not funded. The 
unfunded liabilities of those two programs are conservatively estimated 
to be at least $3 trillion and $9 trillion respectively. That is a 
total of at least $12 trillion, or approximately two and a half times 
the current national debt.
  We have a great deal to do in reforming and revising the Social 
Security and Medicare programs, improving their funding, to make sure 
that this $9 trillion or $3 trillion unfunded liability in those 
respective programs does not hit us squarely between the eyes or our 
children and grandchildren between the eyes 30, 40, 50 years from now.
  So, although we should tarry and recognize the significance of this 
accomplishment, of having at least a $8 billion surplus in terms of 
historic calculations, we should not be exuberant. In fact, I do not 
even think we should crack out the champagne. We could probably 
celebrate with a near beer and enjoy the fizz, but remain sober and 
committed to yet attacking with renewed vigor the problems that lie 
ahead in making sure that our financial fiscal house is in order in 
this country, and making sure that this country has a financial 
condition that we are proud to leave as a legacy to our children and 
grandchildren.
  We should not allow the partisanship that has unfortunately divided 
us on all too many occasions to overcome our commitment to doing the 
right thing by the next generation in the years to come.

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