[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 14, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WHAT SURPLUS?

  (Mr. TANCREDO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, when I got back to my district, I asked 
people about what they think should be done with the budget surplus. On 
more than one occasion, I am asked in return, ``what surplus?''
  There are a lot of people out there who are on to the games we play 
in this town. They ask, how could there be a budget surplus if the 
national debt went up last year and will go up again this year? What 
kind of surplus is that?
  In fact, they are right. The Federal budget is only in surplus if we 
count the temporary surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund. The 
ironic thing is that the government would never let a business keep its 
books that way. But that is the way it does with our seniors' 
retirement money. It uses it to mask the true size of the deficit.
  Republicans want to put an end to that. Many Democrats are not very 
happy about that prospect. Ending this practice would make it a lot 
harder to create new spending programs and expand the size of 
government. It sounds like another good reason why we should do it, 
does it not?

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