Social Security Funds Tapped To Pay for Kosovo

[Dana Briggs <fambriggs@earthlink.net>]

Appears to me based upon the following, that the first reform
option would be to take control away from the republican and
democrat "parties".

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Social Security Funds Tapped To Pay for Kosovo:
Bipartisan support to spend surplus despite earlier promises

Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Thursday, May 6, 1999 
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle 

President Clinton has repeatedly and popularly promised to "save
every penny" of the federal budget surplus for Social Security
until the program is rescued from its impending bankruptcy. 

The Republican-led Congress has wholeheartedly concurred,
recently passing legislation to stow away 100 percent of surplus
Social Security money in a "safety-deposit box," never to be
touched again. 

That was last month. Along came Kosovo, and out went Social
Security. A huge "emergency supplemental appropriations bill" is
headed for probable House passage today, and the only question
between both parties is how many billions of the surplus --
every penny of it Social Security money -- will be spent. 

The money will go not only to the Yugoslav war, but also to
shower aid on farmers and steel companies, raise military pay
and aid Central American nations hit by hurricanes last year,
among other things. 

FAST REVERSAL 

Although the use of Social Security money for other government
programs is nothing new, both Clinton and Congress are tapping
into the money just weeks after declaring it sacrosanct. 

Last month, President Clinton asked for $6 billion in emergency"
funding to pay for the air war against Yugoslavia and the relief
programs for the hundreds of thousands of refugees who
subsequently fled the Kosovo province. 

The House Appropriations Committee more than doubled Clinton's
request, to $12.9 billion, packing in such extras as a $1.8
billion military pay and retirement package; $1.34 billion for
spare parts; and $1 billion for base construction in Germany,
Greece, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Britain and Southwest Asia. 

Neither the administration nor the committee offered offsetting
cuts. That means all the new spending will come from Social
Security, which is generating the entire $107 billion federal
surplus this year. The rest of the government is expected to run
a $20 billion deficit. 

Redlands Republican Jerry Lewis, who chairs the defense panel of
the House Appropriations Committee, said he is proud of the bill.
Clinton's request "in no way, shape or form addressed questions
of what do we do to replenish missiles now in shorter supply,
and how do we make sure America is ready on another front" in
Iraq or North Korea, Lewis said. 

"Clearly, we're having some difficulty in readiness even in this relatively small country in a relatively small region of
the world." 

MILITARY ASSESSMENT 

Lewis said he asked the Pentagon to assess its "absolute
essential military needs" if the air campaign were to continue
through the fall. (Clinton has suggested it could last for
several more months.) The result, he said, is an "absolutely
clean" bill with no pet projects for House members. 

Emergency spending bills are immune to the spending caps that
Clinton and Congress settled on in the 1997 Balanced Budget
Agreement. They require no offsetting cuts. Such "emergency"
bills have become a routine and increasingly popular budget loophole. 

Contra Costa Democrat Ellen Tauscher said that she supports the
Clinton request, but acknowledged that the bill has become a
"Christmas tree" for other military projects, most of which she
supports. 

"It's not a question of whether they're right or good or
necessary," Tauscher said. "But technically, this is for
emergencies, and we're loading on a bunch of things that are
generally accepted to be important and using this escape hatch"
to bypass the budget. 

But she defended emergency spending from Social Security for
Kosovo, as well as for farmers. 

"The truth of the matter is that we have a surplus. It's very
similar to if you were busily saving to build a garden patio, and
all of a sudden you have a roof leak," Tauscher said. "I know the
administration is committed to preserving Social Security, and
certainly I am, but at the same time, we have to pay for this
operation and we have the money to do it." 

SCALED-BACK PACKAGE 

The Senate is expected to scale back the House version to about
$9 billion, about midway between the administration and House
packages. 

Although a handful of Republicans want to demand offsetting
spending cuts, they are finding scant support. 

"The biggest faction is those who want to fund the emergency bill
and pay for it by raiding Social Security," said Steve Moore,
chief budget analyst for the libertarian Cato Institute. "Less
than six weeks ago, they passed a budget resolution vowing never
to touch the Social Security surplus again, and here they are
doing it at the first opportunity they get."

The Senate plans to tack their own Kosovo package onto an earlier
emergency spending bill for farmers, aid to Jordan and
hurricane-ravaged Central America. The Senate version would also
quadruple farm aid to nearly $600 million, largely because of the
work of Tom Daschle, the Democratic minority leader from South
Dakota's wheat belt. Others tacked on aid for the steel, oil and
mining industries who contend they are beset by cheap foreign
competition or the collapse in commodity prices. 

©1999 San Francisco Chronicle