On the recordFebruary 24, 1999
Our position is pretty simple. We think the primary goal this year should be reducing our debt. In that, we agree with the President very strongly. And strengthening Social Security. To do that, it is awfully important, extremely important for the American people to understand that this year, 1999, there is no surplus other than Social Security surpluses. And next year there is no surplus to be divided other than Social Security surplus. So any dollars that we spend over and above the budget caps, whether it be for defense, and I am one of those that do believe that we do have a need of taking a good, hard look at our defense capabilities, but I also do it in the same spirit in which I speak today, of saying that in the short term, you will find that the surpluses are in fact Social Security trust funds which we believe very sincerely that we have now a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to honestly take Social Security off-budget.
Source
govinfo.gov
