WALLY HERGER: “As this first point shows, this Republican Congress has ended the 30-year, $655 billion raid on Social Security. As the…”

“As this first point shows, this Republican Congress has ended the 30-year, $655 billion raid on Social Security. As the next chart shows, regrettably, Congresses of the past raided Social Security to pay for unrelated Washington programs. This was wrong, and this Republican Congress has done something about it. Seniors deserve to have their Social Security protected. First, Congress adopted the Contract with America that led to the first balanced budget in more than 30 years. We moved from $200-plus billion deficits to surpluses by 1998. But we knew and the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Kasich) and the Republican leadership and the American public knew that we could do more. With their support, the House passed, despite the opposition of the Clinton-Gore administration, legislation I sponsored, the Social Security lockbox, by an overwhelming 416-12 vote. As this next chart shows, last year President Clinton and Al Gore only agreed to set aside 62 percent of the Social Security surplus and proposed to spend the other 38 percent, or $52 billion, of Social Security on risky spending schemes. But we knew 62 percent was not good enough and refused to allow this reckless Social Security raid to continue.”