[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2080]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           TRUTH IN BUDGETING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for my colleagues 
this morning: How can the budget be in surplus if the debt went up last 
year by $109 billion? Indeed, how can the budget be in surplus if the 
debt is projected to go up another $101 billion this year, and another 
$90 billion the year after that?
  Did anyone question these numbers, numbers which were released on 
January 29 by the Congressional Budget Office? Mr. Speaker, is there a 
single Member in this body who can deny that the national debt will 
continue to rise until the year 2005? It is interesting that we have 
become too careless with our language, or perhaps crafty, that the next 
few years of budget surplus will result in billions and billions of 
dollars more in debt over the next 6 years.
  The reason for this situation, of course, is the social security 
trust fund. The temporary surpluses in the social security trust fund 
are masking the true size of the deficit.
  That is why I am introducing ``The Honest Balanced Budget Act of 
1999.'' The intent of this legislation is simple: to guarantee honesty 
in budgeting. The social security trust fund surplus should not be used 
to fund other programs. It should not be used to mask our Nation's 
deficit.
  Added to that is the irony that this very same fund is scheduled to 
go bankrupt soon after the baby boomers start to retire, so this trust 
fund, which will soon go bankrupt, is now in surplus, hiding the true 
state of the Federal budget.
  Rarely has a government program caused so much confusion, misled so 
many people, and bedeviled so many policymakers. What is the lesson we 
should draw from this situation? Number one, our budget problems, 
despite all the talks about surplus, are far from over. Entitlement 
spending is still on auto pilot, and still growing by leaps and bounds.
  Medicare is still projected to go bankrupt not long after that. 
Social Security is still projected to go bankrupt not long after that, 
also. The national debt, which is the sum total of all the earlier 
budget deficits we have been running for so many years, the national 
debt is still at $5.6 trillion and climbing.
  This may be disappointing news to some, politically unwise to bring 
up to others, but it is the truth, the reality, the actual state of the 
situation. That is why we should pass legislation to require truth in 
budgeting, to require Members of Congress to acknowledge these facts 
and to require the media to point them out.
  We have been very zealous in cutting welfare spending and reducing 
the size of our government's bureaucracy. We should keep up our efforts 
and continue to cut unnecessary spending. Whatever surplus we may have 
is the result of lower taxes, controlled government spending and our 
balanced budget.
  What would happen, Mr. Speaker, if the economy should start to 
falter? How would that affect the budget process if the surplus were to 
shrink, keeping in mind that the true state of our budget surplus is 
dubious at best?
  That is why I hope my colleagues will join with me by cosponsoring 
The Honest Balanced Budget Act, so we can bring truth in budgeting 
finally into the process.

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