[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, maybe we can have an exchange here so that 
we really understand the proposals on the two sides. The Senator asked 
the question, When we reserve $750, $800 billion to strengthen Social 
Security, where is that money going to go? The situation we face as a 
Nation is right here.
  This is from the General Accounting Office. This is the long-term 
budget outlook for the United States. It shows that while we are 
enjoying surpluses now, even if we save all the Social Security trust 
fund money, the deficits for the country are going to mushroom when the 
baby boomers start to retire.
  We have a very strange accounting system in the Federal Government. 
We don't account for our long-term liabilities that are growing. In 
fact, there is a lot of talk about the publicly held debt, and the 
Senator said the President is paying down the publicly held debt. What 
he hasn't talked about is the gross Federal debt. The gross Federal 
debt, during this period, is actually going to grow from $5.6 trillion 
today to nearly $7 trillion at the end of this period.
  What I am saying is, we should do two things: We should make a 
maximum effort on paying down our publicly held debt, pay down more of 
it than the President proposes, but we also ought to reserve money to 
deal with this long-term problem that is confronting us, which we all 
know is there. There have been a series of proposals as to how to do 
that. One is to establish individual accounts. Senators on the other 
side, by and large, support that approach. They support privatization, 
which I don't support, but they say that would be a way to go.
  I just say to my colleague, if you are going to do that, you have to 
get the money from somewhere. If you are going to do other things to 
strengthen Social Security and address this long-term debt problem, you 
have to get the money from somewhere. Every proposal to reform Social 
Security that has been proposed--the Archer-Shaw proposal, former 
chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the House; Senator Gramm's 
proposal; the Aaron-Reischauer proposal, Kolbe-Stenholm proposal, the 
leaders in the House of Representatives; the Gregg-Breaux proposal, one 
of the key alternatives in the Senate; and the Clinton-Gore proposal of 
the last administration--every one of them requires money.
  Our budget plan sets aside $750 billion for that purpose. Their plan 
sets aside nothing. That is a fundamental difference. That is not some 
plan that is out there in the ether. That is a plan that is necessary 
if we are going to begin to cope with our long-term debt bomb that is 
facing this country as a result of the baby boom generation.
  We can either say the problem doesn't exist and not do anything about 
it, which is what their budget plan proposes, or we can reserve 
resources now to begin to cope with our long-term imbalances that 
everyone knows is right beyond this 10-year period. I am saying let's 
reserve money now to deal with this long-term debt crisis; in addition 
to aggressively paying down our publicly held debt, doing it more 
aggressively than they propose, I am also proposing dealing with our 
long-term debt, something for which they have not reserved a dime.
  That is the reason for that part of the plan, and we will be happy to 
discuss this more tomorrow and say we look forward to additional debate 
in the morning.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have just been informed the pages 
would like us to spend a few more minutes. Somebody is blushing, but 
that is the truth. Something very nice happens to them in 5 minutes 
that won't happen to them if we close up now.
  Mr. CONRAD. Let's not give up then.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I want to speak for 2\1/2\ minutes of it and the 
Senator from North Dakota can speak for 2\1/2\ minutes of it, or we can 
have a quorum call. People have heard enough of us.
  First, those listening, stay tuned tomorrow and we will tell you how 
President Clinton figured out that he could say he was saving Social 
Security but then had a long time to pay for it. Just think. You 
remember, he had a 15-year budget once. Tomorrow, we will tell you what 
he was up to when he did that. It is most interesting. He can spend 
more and still claim Social Security is being taken care of because he 
did it in 15-year intervals instead of 10.
  That is all I am going to say. Mr. President, I suggest the absence 
of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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