[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 28504]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 REPUBLICANS HAVE ALREADY SPENT $17 BILLION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS

  (Mr. BERRY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, it would have been amusing the last few weeks 
if it had not been so sad listening to our Republican colleagues 
swearing to protect social security. This charade continues, despite 
the fact that the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that the 
Republicans have already spent $17 billion of the social security 
surplus.
  Remember, that $17 billion loan does not include the Republicans' $1 
trillion tax cut. It does, however, include Senator Trent Lott's ship 
that the Navy does not need, does not want, and does not have the 
people to man if they had it.
  It does include over $1 million to study the spruce bark beetle. In 
fact, according to the CBO, if the President had not vetoed the tax 
bill, we would have already raided the social security trust fund by at 
least $70 billion, without counting any of the other billions and 
billions and billions that my spendthrift Republican colleagues have 
passed this year.
  With all this spending and all this borrowing, how can my Republican 
colleagues get up here with a straight face and say they are saving 
social security? The American people know better.




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