Kent Conrad: “In fact, if you take the amount of money over the 6 years, it is $525 billion of Social Security surpluses that are…”

“In fact, if you take the amount of money over the 6 years, it is $525 billion of Social Security surpluses that are going to be used to say that the budget has been balanced. So $525 billion of Social Security surpluses are going to be looted or raided, or whatever terminology one wants to apply in order to claim a balanced budget. This is not a balanced budget. In fairness, I think one ought to say the President's plan is also not a balanced budget. Even the plan that I was part of, part of the centrist coalition, was not truly a balanced budget. None of these plans are truly balanced budgets. In fact, the only plan that we have had a chance to vote on in the last 2 years that was truly a balanced budget was the one I offered last year, and the Senator from North Dakota supported it, the fair share balanced budget plan. That did balance without counting Social Security surpluses. It is the only budget that has been voted on on the floor on the Senate that was a true balanced budget plan. That got 39 votes here in the U.S. Senate. Obviously, 39 votes does not prevail. I just say, the media, when they report, ought to tell the people accurately and honestly what has happened.”