WASHINGTON–Earlier today, the White House announced that there will be
at least a $76 billion budget surplus for the 1999 fiscal year. The
Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group advocating fiscal discipline,
today reminded the leadership of both parties that the federal
government is still projected to run a deficit of $40 billion or more
in FY99 if the Social Security surplus is not counted–larger than the
comparable $29 billion deficit recorded in FY98.
WASHINGTON–Earlier today, the White House announced that there will be
at least a $76 billion budget surplus for the 1999 fiscal year. The
Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group advocating fiscal discipline,
today reminded the leadership of both parties that the federal
government is still projected to run a deficit of $40 billion or more
in FY99 if the Social Security surplus is not counted–larger than the
comparable $29 billion deficit recorded in FY98.
The discrepancy involves much more than a mere bookkeeping
technicality. Only by including the projected "off-budget" $117 billion
surplus from Social Security will the FY99 ledger show a growing
surplus.
"The Social Security program is legally and officially off-budget, and
the time has come for that fact to be reflected in the public
announcements by the political leadership of both parties," said
Concord Coalition Executive Director Martha Phillips.
Former Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), the co-chairs
of the Concord Coalition, emphasized the need to change the budget
rhetoric in a letter they sent to Congress last November. "Politicians
from both parties, White House and Congress alike, still talk, act, and
legislate as if laws removing Social Security from the federal budget
had never been enacted. Rather than focusing only on the revenues and
outlays from programs covered in the federal budget (which are in
deficit), they also routinely and automatically add in the revenues and
outlays from Social Security (which are in surplus) as they plan fiscal
policy, enact legislation, and explain their actions to the public."
