[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 21221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           A BUDGET AGREEMENT

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I am very pleased my associates could come 
over this morning and talk about some of the programs that are before 
us, to talk about some of the directions we will be taking. I think 
there is another area, in addition to what has been talked about, that 
is right before us. We are dealing now with spending. We are now in the 
process of finishing the appropriations process. Congress must adopt 13 
different appropriations bills for future spending of the Government 
and we are in the process of doing that.
  We also have some budget limitations that we have placed on 
ourselves, some caps that we have to honor. We are dealing also with 
emergency spending. We have talked some now about the surpluses that 
have been available. The surpluses that are available this year, 
however, are generally Social Security dollars. But there are $14 
billion in the regular budget and those will, of course, be available. 
Most of those have already been set aside as emergency spending.
  What we have before us is an opportunity to continue to work and 
complete this matter of funding the budget for this year. At the same 
time, we must pass it on to the White House. We must find some 
agreement, either that or have some continuing resolutions that will 
put us into the future or, in fact, we are faced with the possibility 
of the President vetoing the legislation and of having the Government 
shut down, as happened in the past. I hope this will not be the case.
  I noticed in the paper the other day the President has indicated he 
would like nothing better than a bipartisan compromise. Hopefully, that 
is what will happen. Yet he has suggested ``if only the Republicans 
could be a little more reasonable.'' I am not sure that is necessarily 
a part of it. Probably his White House aides are happy about this 
partisan combat because, as we know, the last time the Government was 
shut down, the Congress shouldered all the responsibility. I do not 
believe that ought to be the case, and hopefully it will not be this 
year. We are looking forward to working in those areas.
  In terms of Social Security, there are some changes that need to be 
made. We are talking about saving Social Security. We ought to do that. 
We are committed to doing that. The method of doing it currently, of 
course, is to put the Social Security surplus in to replace the 
publicly held debt. The fact is, it then becomes debt that has to be 
covered by the taxpayers when the time comes to use it.
  We also are looking at a change in the Social Security Act which 
responds to what is happening with Social Security. The demographics 
are changing. When Social Security started, there were 34 people 
working for every 1 beneficiary. People paid about $30 a year into the 
program. Now there are three people working for every beneficiary, and 
it is moving toward two. They are paying 12.5 percent of up to nearly 
$80,000 into this fund.
  The fact is, over a period of time, probably in 20 years, there will 
not be enough money to continue as we have, so we have to make some 
changes. The choices are very simple ones basically:
  We can increase taxes. Nobody really wants to do that. The Social 
Security tax is the largest tax paid by almost all taxpayers in the 
lower-income brackets.
  We can reduce benefits. People are not much interested in that.
  The third alternative, of course, is to increase the revenue that 
comes from the moneys that are in the trust fund. We are very anxious 
to do that. It also gives an opportunity to take that money when it 
comes in and put it somewhere other than into additional national debt 
loans and put it into individual accounts that people would have as 
their own, to be invested in the private sector for a much higher 
yield.
  These are some of the things with which we grapple. Certainly, we are 
going to be working with the administration to see if we can do 
something in that respect. I do not think there is willingness on this 
side to trade off tax relief for increased spending. I hope not, and I 
do not believe we will do that.
  On the other hand, we can find, I am sure, agreement in the 
appropriations areas, and we can move forward with that.
  Mr. President, our time has expired. I see there is a Senator on the 
other side of the isle, so I yield back my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kyl). Under the previous order, the time 
until 2 p.m. shall be controlled by the Senator from Illinois, Mr. 
Durbin, or his designee.
  The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I say to my colleague from Wyoming, I did not hear all 
of his remarks, but I always appreciate what he has to say, agree or 
disagree.

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