Kent Conrad: “I say to my colleague from Colorado, I read his amendment. His amendment defines a balanced budget as one that includes…”

“I say to my colleague from Colorado, I read his amendment. His amendment defines a balanced budget as one that includes all receipts and all outlays. That includes the Social Security surplus funds as a definition of a balanced budget. That, in my judgment, is not a balanced budget. It is exactly the mistake we made around here for 30 years. Defining a balanced budget as one that includes Social Security surpluses is to set up the circumstance in which we could go back to the bad old days of raiding and looting Social Security for operating expenses, and that is something we have all pledged not to do. Maybe the intention of the Senator from Colorado is to protect Social Security, but when he defines a balanced budget in the amendment he has offered as one that raids Social Security surpluses to accomplish balance, he has turned back the clock to the bad old days. That is a mistake. That should not happen. We should not vote for it.”