Kent Conrad: “I think there is not only virtue in it, but it is required that we do it because the hard reality in this town is that…”

“I think there is not only virtue in it, but it is required that we do it because the hard reality in this town is that while it is true we have been talking Social Security surpluses--about $500 billion so far--this is the tip of the iceberg. We are about to run, over the next 15 years, $2 trillion in Social Security surpluses, and we need every dime of it to be ready for when the baby boomers retire. If we spent it all, squandered every penny, if we deluded ourselves by passing a phony balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and the baby boomers retire and they go to the cupboard and the cupboard is bare, we are going to have some mighty angry folks in this country, and they are going to ask some pretty tough questions. They are going to ask, ``Where did the money go? I thought you balanced the budget and secured the solvency of the Social Security System.'' Mr. President, the hard reality is that we have been doing something wrong and we have to stop it to prepare for the future. We have to get ready for when the baby boom generation retires. The only way we can do that is to balance the budget and do it honestly, without counting Social Security surpluses. To put it into the Constitution of the United States, to put a definition in the Constitution of the United States that a balanced budget includes raiding and looting the Social Security trust funds is just profoundly wrong. There is no principle in that.”