Byron Dorgan: “In one respect he is not in error, he is absolutely correct. President Reagan, President Bush, and President Clinton…”

“In one respect he is not in error, he is absolutely correct. President Reagan, President Bush, and President Clinton have all sent budgets since 1983 to this Congress--1983 is the period in which we began to decide we were going to accumulate substantial surpluses in Social Security to save for a later time when they are needed--all Presidents have sent budgets to this Congress that use the Social Security trust funds as part of the unified budget. I think 2 days ago on the floor of this Senate, I pointed out the President did that in his budget, and his budget that he says is in balance is not in balance. I pointed that out about this President. I made the same point about President Bush and President Reagan when they did it as well. But, having said that, the Senator from Utah says the Social Security trust funds that are derived from Social Security taxes taken from paychecks of workers all across this country and from the employers, is a technical issue, and they simply go into all other funds and they are commingled.”