Orrin Hatch: “contrary to Senators Reid, Dorgan and Conrad's contention, exempting Social Security would severely impair the program.…”

“contrary to Senators Reid, Dorgan and Conrad's contention, exempting Social Security would severely impair the program. Let me say once again, an exemption would open up a loophole in the amendment and siphon-off revenues from the trust funds. Placing the trust funds off-budget will harm the Social Security Program. In essence, we would have two budgets, one based on sound principles of solvency, and the other, the Social Security budget, which is not. One budget will be required to be in balance unless a supermajority votes to allow a deficit, the other--the Social Security budget--would be raided and bloated with unrelated pork projects. This will mean the end of Social Security as we know it, turning it into the least secure of all Government accounts. Congress could pass legislation to fund any number of programs off-budget, through the Social Security trust funds. The budget could be balanced simply by shifting programs into the Social Security trust funds. The immediate effect of the loophole is that the trust funds would grow--as projected--but only until 2002, the date the BBA requires that the budget be balanced. Thereafter, however, the trust funds would stop growing as all annual surplus funds would be reallocated to pay for programs that have been redesignated as Social Security. So instead of growing, from 2002 to 2019, the year the trust funds are estimated to stop growing, the system will become stagnant in 2002.”