Frank Pallone: “let us make no mistake about it. The Republican tax bill is a direct assault on Social Security. The budget surplus the…”

“let us make no mistake about it. The Republican tax bill is a direct assault on Social Security. The budget surplus the Republicans want to use to pay for their tax cuts does not exist. The only portion of the Federal budget that is in surplus is the Social Security trust fund. In fact, without Social Security, the Federal budget would still be in a deficit this year. Instead of voting on an $80 billion tax cut that is paid for by raiding Social Security, we should pass the Democratic proposal to save Social Security first. It would require by law that the entire amount of the Social Security surplus in each fiscal year be transferred to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York to be held in trust for Social Security. Mr. Speaker, the point is that Democrats could support many of these tax cuts, and we could pass a tax relief bill, if the Republicans agreed to do it without using Social Security to pay for it. But they will not. They are not going to do that. That is why we have to vote down this Republican bill and save Social Security first.”