[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H7696-H7697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REPAYING THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, first of all, to commend my 
colleague from Washington (Mr. Smith) who spoke earlier today. I was 
sitting in my office going through correspondence from my constituents 
when I heard his comments on the plan to spend the interest on the 
Social Security trust fund on a tax cut that is part of the Republican 
Party, the majority party's plan either to have this year or next year.
  I think this is one of the largest mistakes that we could make in 
this country. I think we have to go back and take a look at the 
economic history, the fiscal economic history of the United States, to 
see where we are, how we got there and the risk that this plan provides 
to the American people.
  It was not too long ago in 1992 when the country was looking at 
fiscal deficits in the range of $292 billion a year. In fact, if we go 
back to 1981, we see since that time the national debt has quadrupled 
to $5.4 trillion. In terms of our gross domestic product it has doubled 
to the level of 677 percent to the level of our Gross Domestic Product, 
something that no business or no state or local government in our 
country would allow their finances to get into. Interest on the debt 
has become the third highest Federal program since 1981, tripling over 
that time.
  Now, after many years of very strong fiscal medicine to get our 
fiscal house in order, starting with the 1990 budget agreement that was 
passed by the Democrats in the House and the Senate, the 1993 budget 
agreement that was passed by the Democrats in the House and the Senate, 
and followed by the 1997 bipartisan Balanced Budget Act, the Congress 
has now been able to show the country that we can live within our means 
and get the budget in balance, and this year in fact we are looking at 
the possibility of a surplus in the range of $65 billion in the unified 
Federal budget.
  But that should not cover over the fact that we still have this 
enormous debt, and it should not evade the fact that the total unified 
budget would only be in balance because of the huge surplus in the 
Social Security trust fund.
  Some of my colleagues have suggested that perhaps the interest on the 
Social Security trust fund is not really the property of the Social 
Security trust fund or the beneficiaries. I would remind my colleagues, 
and I contacted the Treasury Department to get a copy of the bond that 
the Social Security trust fund is invested in, and that is a bond just 
like any American or anyone could go down to their bank or to their 
brokerage House and buy, and it is a bond backed by the full faith and 
credit of the United States Government, just like any other Treasury 
bond. It is not just the principal, but the interest that is paid.
  The interest on the Social Security trust fund belongs to the 
beneficiaries of the Social Security trust fund. The idea that somehow 
you could bifurcate the trust fund, only giving the principal and not 
the interest, makes no sense at all. Certainly those of us who come 
from the business world, and I

[[Page H7697]]

know many of my colleagues on the Republican side came from the 
business world, as did I, would never do anything like that. They would 
be laughed out of the marketplace.
  But what this comes down to is taking money from the Social Security 
beneficiaries and using it for a tax cut, which we could not need. But 
even worse than that, what this would do is add to the national debt, 
that is already starting to consume a vast amount of our annual Federal 
budget.
  And what does the Congressional Budget Office say? The Congressional 
Budget Office says even if we stayed within the levels of the 1997 
balanced budget agreement, but allowed for demographic growth, no 
increase in spending, with the growth in Medicare and the growth in the 
Social Security system as the baby-boomers come on line with 
retirement, that our national debt could get as high as 200 percent of 
the gross domestic product by the middle of the next century, which 
would mean that interest on the debt would become the largest Federal 
program and would start to squeeze out things like education, like 
national defense, as well as Social Security and Medicare.
  Now, let me also remind my colleagues what the esteemed chairman of 
the Federal Reserve, who we often hear about on the floor of the House 
from both sides of the aisle, said about the situation. He was very 
clear in a hearing before the House Committee on Banking and Financial 
Services just a few weeks ago that paying down the debt was the most 
important thing we could do. In fact, he said the paydown of debt 
associated with the Federal surplus has helped hold down long-term 
interest rates.
  Let us not spend the Social Security beneficiaries' money on a tax 
cut. Let us pay down the debt.

                          ____________________