[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10534]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 10534]]

     SUPPORT THE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE ``SAFE DEPOSIT BOX''

  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, tomorrow we will consider legislation to 
ensure that we will no longer use the Social Security Trust Fund for 
any other purpose than for what it was intended for.
  Now, my colleagues might ask, ``Why is this necessary?'' The answer 
is quite simple. Despite repeated efforts over the years, we have not 
been able to stop perpetual raids on the Social Security Trust Fund. We 
have attempted to stop this violation of the trust fund going as far 
back as 1990.
  Now, that year we enacted legislation, the Budget Enforcement Act, 
which removed Social Security taxes and benefits from the budget and 
from calculations of the budget deficit. That was done to prevent 
Social Security from masking the true size of the deficit and to 
protect it from budgetary cuts.
  The rationale was that if this was done, Congress would not use 
Social Security in devising the Nation's overall fiscal policies. 
Historically, the Social Security Trust Fund Board have invested 
surplus Social Security revenues in U.S. Government securities. These 
investments are honored just like investments from the private sector. 
Interest is earned on the monies invested, and returned to the trust 
fund to help offset long-term obligations to future beneficiaries. It 
was felt that without such an enforcement mechanism, this practice 
would continue unless Congress took action to prevent this dishonest 
bookkeeping from continuing.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the intent of the 1990 law has not been 
fully adhered to, and to guarantee honesty in budgeting we must end the 
misuse of Social Security Trust Fund investments. This Social Security 
Trust Fund surplus should not be used to fund any other programs, and 
it should not be used to mask our Nation's debt.
  We have been very zealous in cutting wasteful spending and reducing 
the size of our government's bureaucracy. We should keep up our efforts 
to continue to cut unnecessary and wasteful spending. That is why I 
applaud my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) for 
introducing H.R. 1259 which will, among other things, provide a 
mechanism to ensure that all Social Security surpluses are dedicated to 
saving the program and Medicare.
  I fully endorse this concept and believe we will be fulfilling our 
pledge to our Nation's seniors if we pass this legislation. We must 
stop this phoney bookkeeping and leave Social Security money alone. 
Right now, the trust fund is running a $126 billion surplus and it is 
used to mask the yearly deficit.
  In 1997, Congress passed the historic Balanced Budget Act of 1997, 
which of course reduced wasteful government spending. We believed it 
was a restraint on Federal spending that has led to a reduction in our 
yearly deficits. With our Nation's strong economy and fiscal 
responsibility, there has been a strong revenue growth in this country 
and it has helped the national Treasury. These two factors make it 
possible to stop the much-used practice of commingling the Social 
Security Trust Fund money with the general revenue.
  So, my colleagues, this week we can make history, make history by 
standing up for not only what we believe to be right, but what is 
absolutely necessary if we are going to make good on our promise to 
save Social Security and Medicare for this and future generations. We 
can pass H.R. 1259, stop this practice which started when President 
Lyndon Johnson unified the budget in 1969. It was then that Social 
Security and the other Federal trust funds were officially accounted 
for in the entire Federal budget.
  So this ``Safe Deposit Box Act'' establishes the submission of 
separate Social Security budget documents by excluding outlays and 
receipts of the old-age, survivors, and disability program under the 
Social Security Act, thereby, Mr. Speaker, preventing Social Security 
surpluses from being used for any other purpose other than for the 
Social Security Trust Fund and the Medicare program.
  So I urge my colleagues tomorrow and this week to support H.R. 1259.

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