Mark Neumann: “In 1996, this blue area on the chart is what the people in Washington reported to the American people as the actual…”

“In 1996, this blue area on the chart is what the people in Washington reported to the American people as the actual deficit. What that is, is the amount they overdrew their checkbook. They overdrew their checkbook by about $107 billion in this particular year. What they did not tell them is that in addition to that, the Social Security trust fund money was also spent. That is another $65 billion, and the true deficit, had they put the Social Security money aside the way we are supposed to be doing, the true deficit was $172 billion. Again, I would emphasize that in Washington, all the budgets except the one the gentleman and I are working on out here, President Clinton's budget, in 2002 when they say the budget is balanced, what they actually mean is they are going to go into the Social Security trust fund, take out $104 billion, the projected surplus that year. So when they say the budget is balanced, they are going to go into the Social Security trust fund, take out $104 billion, put it in their checkbook and say we balanced the budget. That is ridiculous. In the private sector where both of us come from, you could not get away with that kind of reasoning, and they should not get away with it out here in Washington, DC, either.”