WASHINGTON, 29 August — During his presidential campaign, George W. Bush promised never to touch Social Security funds — a promise he repeated as president, most recently last week.
“I’ve said that the only reason we should use Social Security funds is in case of an economic recession or war,” Bush said.
It now appears that what he says, and what he does, are two different things, his opponents say.
Today, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report announcing the federal government will take about $9 billion in surplus revenue collected from Social Security this year. This means it will help itself to the politically sensitive reserves that both parties, and the president, had pledged to protect.
The new numbers, which Congress is required by law to use, has ignited a political firestorm in Washington and set the stage for a battle over Social Security funding when Congress convenes this fall.
The CBO report shows that while the government will dip into the Social Security surplus this year to pay for other expenses, it will run a $2 billion surplus above and beyond the Social Security surplus in 2002, according to several officials in both parties who worked on the report. In 2003, however, the Social Security funds will be tapped again, for $18 billion, and yet again in 2004, for $3 billion.
Democrats, sensing a political opportunity, were quick to point out the public that the dwindling surplus could be a harbinger of economic doom.
“It’s hard to believe that only a year ago, we were saving Social Security first, had large surpluses as far as the eye could see, and steady economic growth,” said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“The president must be vacationing on Fantasy Island if he thinks people are going to believe his tax cut did not break into the Social Security surpluses.”
“The CBO numbers tell as disturbing story of a tax cut, pushed by the president and congressional Republicans, that was focused on the wealthiest 1 percent and is so big it has obliterated record surpluses and jeopardized virtually every other priority of the American people,” said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Missouri.
“This reflects how truly flawed the president’s budget plan was,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “This really is a mess, and it’s their mess.”
Republicans defended the tax cuts as necessary to prime the faltering economy and argued that the overall budget surplus is still the second largest in US history.
Some economists have expressed concern, however, on whether the federal government will be forced to draw more deeply on the Social Security surplus in coming years.
The CBO projections assume that government spending will increase at the rate of inflation, but historically it has grown faster, which would put more pressure on future surpluses.
The budge forecasts probably will make this Fall’s negotiations over next year’s spending priorities more difficult, as Congress decides how much to spend on big-ticket items, particularly defense and education.
They also will complicate the outlook for long-term spending on items such as the prescription-drug benefit for the elderly and agriculture subsidies that were supposed to be implemented this year.