[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONESTY IN BUDGETING ACT

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                            HON. ADAM SMITH

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 3, 1999

  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
``Honesty in Budgeting Act.` This is an important bill that I hope my 
colleagues will join me in supporting.
  Right now, the public and elected officials alike are confused about 
our federal budget. Both President Clinton and the Republican 
Congressional leadership said we had a budget surplus last year, but 
the national debt still increased. The public asked, how could we have 
a surplus but still increase the debt? That is a good question.
  The answer is that we didn't really have a surplus last year. We had 
a $29 billion deficit in the budget, and a $99 billion Social Security 
trust fund surplus. Politicians who wanted to make the numbers seem 
better than they were ignored those numbers and focused on the 
``unified'' budget surplus of $70 billion, misleading the American 
people into thinking that we had extra money in our budget.
  The Honesty in Budgeting Act does several things to help remedy that 
problem. First of all, it simply expresses the sense of the House that 
all of us in Congress and those in the White House should stop 
misleading the public and instead talk about the real budget numbers--
the on-budget numbers. Second, it reinforces Social Security's off-
budget status. Finally, it directs the official budgeting agencies of 
the government, the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of 
Management and Budget, to stop including Social Security trust funds in 
its report to Congress and the American public. This is important 
because while we have previously taken Social Security off-budget, too 
many elected officials still talk and act like nothing's changed. 
Eliminating the trust funds figures from the official reports of the 
CBO and OMB will force Congress to focus on the real budget numbers and 
stop masking budget deficits with the Social Security trust fund.
  I believe that the Honesty in Budgeting Act is particularly important 
as we now enter an era of surpluses. Latest economic projections 
indicate substantial budget surpluses as early as this year. These 
surpluses are non-Social Security surpluses, which is great news. But 
as we start talking about how to use those surpluses, whether it is to 
cut taxes, increase investment in education or defense or to pay down 
the national debt, we must start the debate with honesty. We must set 
aside all of the Social Security trust fund surpluses for what it is 
obligated--Social Security--and then have a national discussion about 
what we should do with any additional surpluses.

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