Martin Sabo: “Nothing this Congress will do will add one dime to the Social Security Trust Fund. Nothing that this Congress is doing…”

“Nothing this Congress will do will add one dime to the Social Security Trust Fund. Nothing that this Congress is doing will change how dime one of the Social Security Trust Fund is invested. Regardless of which assumptions one uses, whether they be CBO, Congressional Budget Office, or those at the Office of Management and Budget, in either case, based on current projections, this Congress will be borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund based on today's assumptions. I am for highway funding. I am for transit funding. I serve on the committee that funds those programs. But I think they should be treated like other programs. In this bill, those programs receive the 1 percent cut like other programs for the year 2000. But then lo and behold, this same bill gives all the money back as additional funding in the year 2001, saying that all those funds for those programs, which I like, some I have local interest in, is higher priority than anything else in the transportation area, such as operations for the FAA.”