Byron Dorgan: “If we are collecting more money than is necessary for the Government, it ought to go back to the folks who send it in…”

“If we are collecting more money than is necessary for the Government, it ought to go back to the folks who send it in, no question about that. But the question is, we have a debt of nearly $6 trillion and we have a problem in Social Security, as the Senator from South Carolina has pointed out. Just after World War II there were a lot of warm feelings around this country and we had the biggest baby crop ever produced in American history. Those babies are fixing to retire soon, and when they hit the retirement rolls it will be a maximum strain on the Social Security system. We have accrued surpluses year after year to meet that test for the baby boomers' retirement and those surpluses are invested in government bonds. The other page says if you include the Social Security fund in your budget totals, there is a surplus. But if you don't count the Social Security fund--which you shouldn't be able to do, because that money is paid into a trust fund for only one purpose--if you don't count the Social Security trust fund, there is no surplus.”