Alan Simpson

I just hope that perhaps somewhere into the national debate will come pages 78 and 79 of this year's 1996 annual report, which is so clear that there is no Social Security trust fund. There is nothing in the way of a pool other than the…

I think there is no reason to portray the balanced budget amendment as a place to talk about Social Security trust funds. They do not fit.

That is what you have been saying; that we can avoid this result by defeating a balanced budget amendment.

that would be a good argument if we were saying that we were going to ``use it to reduce the deficit.'' But it will have already been used because the minute there are surpluses in the Social Security trust funds, they are invested in T…

Not to give too much credit, but simply these dates are incorrect, 2020, 2025, 2030--you know those facts. I know those facts.

how do we achieve this result--by suggesting then that we defeat the balanced budget amendment?

Now, Mr. President, if we can get back to the issue, which is the law, and stick with this and try to stick in this debate without going into emotion and who has the bucks and who does not have the bucks, and the rich versus the poor, and…

For 17 years, this Senator has talked about the absolute certainty of pretending that something is off budget when it is $360 billion a year. It is absolutely absurd to believe that you do not talk about Social Security when you are trying…

I do not believe that my good friend would check through the Senate ethics and financial records and find that I was listed among the millionaires of the Senate. So I think that that was a rather gratuitous shot.

there is no way to avoid doing anything to try to hide Social Security from the budget problems of the United States.

The issue is that you cannot hide something that is $360 billion a year and pretend that you are doing something to "balance the books." That does not mean that we are then going to "raid" or "loot" the Social Security System. The…

I cannot see any format where a constitutional amendment, which would take years to ratify--all we are doing is sending this to the States, if we did do it, and let them decide. I know of nothing in my background that would lead me to…

I am saying, based upon the law of the United States, that any surplus in these funds is "used" and goes directly to the general fund, that there is no trust fund in that to be looted, to be raided. It is a series of great stack of IOU's…

Whether we call it balanced or unbalanced in the year 2002, whether under the Republican plan or President Clinton's plan or Chafee-Breaux, Social Security moneys will be in exactly the same place. That is what I am saying. It will be in…

The cumulated surplus in Social Security is $496 billion. We need to know that. You have listed an annual figure of $60 billion or $69 billion. The present surplus, cumulated surplus, in Social Security today is $496 billion headed for…

Well, Mr. President, that is a deliberate strategy. The purpose was to build the reserves, and it was going to work beautifully, until this year, in the year 1996. Every 7/2 seconds somebody turns 50, and 15 years from now, in the year…

let me close by saying I agree with my friend and colleague, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, that the assured best way to protect Social Security is to pass the balanced budget amendment, or if you do not like the balanced budget…

Let me tell you that there is no Social Security trust fund. It is a huge stack of IOU's. The trustees know that, all thoughtful Americans know that. It is listed in the trustees' report. It is a huge stack of IOU's. There is no place in…

They are using it as an excuse to oppose the balanced budget amendment. This $60 billion figure appears small because it is an annual figure, a consolidated figure which also includes the disability payments and does not represent the…

this amendment simply notes that there are a number of indices that the Government uses to measure inflation and that we should strive to use the most accurate one that is possible. We have heard discussion of the CPI. There is another one…

I was hoping to follow that precedent, but I see that others have failed to do so. And I thought if I could take 10 more minutes, we could get a vote which would show that indeed we must be about our business. If we were to use the…

I am so very proud to join my colleagues in the centrist coalition in declaring my support for this bipartisan budget resolution. Everyone in this Chamber should take a close look at our amendment. Reading this plan will be a frustrating…

I feel this amendment is extremely important to help to establish the greatest credibility for this balanced budget resolution. This resolution already represents a tremendous, laudable effort on the part of the Budget Committee chairman…

It is simply a sense of the Senate that our budget choices should make use of the most accurate measures of inflation that are available to the Federal Government. Simply that, a proposition that I believe no Senator should disagree with…

What has been curious to me, as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, is the remarkable behavior of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown. He is continually distancing himself and the VA from the President's budget. I…