Thomas Daschle: “it is important that my colleagues recognize two very important aspects of the legislation we are considering today.…”

“it is important that my colleagues recognize two very important aspects of the legislation we are considering today. First, this legislation increases spending on Social Security and offsets that spending, in part, by using savings that had been identified as necessary to bring about a balanced budget. The language was changed at the last minute so that a point of order against using non-Social Security savings to pay for Social Security spending could be avoided. But I do think my colleagues should be aware that this legislation uses savings that had been identified for reducing the deficit. Second, the savings in this legislation exceeds the level that is needed to pay for the spending increase. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this legislation achieves $3.5 billion in on-budget savings, and $1.8 billion in net savings over 7 years. The impact of these provisions on the deficit would actually be higher than the CBO numbers indicate. This is because the bill would allow the discretionary spending caps to be increased in order to conduct more continuing disability reviews. These reviews are conducted to verify that beneficiaries are still entitled to disability benefits. Because of budgetary pressures, and competing priorities, the Social Security Administration has not been able to conduct as many CDRs as they would like. CBO estimates that, if fully utilized, this provision could result in net savings of $800 million dollars by the year 2002.”