Central to Mr Bush's short-term problem is what the disappearing surplus means for the social security surplus, the funds set aside for future Social Security, or pension, payments.
"The Medicare surplus is gone, the Social Security surplus is almost all gone, " Conrad said.
So Mr Clinton, who claims to want a budget surplus in order to help Social Security, is actually using the Social Security surplus in order to help his budget look fine.
They would also be so expensive that the Republicans might have to raid the Social Security surplus to pay for them.
But only if the Social Security surplus was spent, as it always has been, would Mr Bush's plan automatically ensure that national saving would rise.
"We can shortchange critical needs, such as strengthening homeland security, or we can raid the Social Security surplus and borrow money to pay for them, " he said.
First, by taking the Social Security surplus that comes in every month and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to pay for the tax cuts.
Pretty soon we will have spent the Social Security surplus and the Baby Boomers will start retiring just in a few years from now on the next President's watch.
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Instead, I propose that we make the historic decision to invest the surplus to save Social Security.
Now, what's been happening is, up until very recently we've been running a surplus in the Social Security account.
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Social Security ran a surplus for many, many years since 1983.
The upshot was the change now being enshrined in the 2000 budget: driven by the sudden improvement in the forecasts, both parties committed themselves in the course of just a few months to keeping the non-Social Security part in surplus, as well as the total budget.
When 72 percent say the budget surplus should first be used to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, it's impossible to make a case for giving all the surplus away in a giant, unnecessary, unwanted, across-the-board tax cut.
Currently, Social Security funds run a surplus that helps to finance other parts of government.
Clinton will restate what he said last year: Not one penny of the budget surplus should be spent until Social Security is saved.
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Robb countered that Allen's tax cuts would threaten Social Security, education and the surplus.
Defenders of Social Security benefits sometimes cite this surplus as proof that there is no crisis.
President Bill Clinton has proposed solving the problems of the Social Security system before touching the surplus.
Social Security would have remained in surplus, instead of sinking into deficit.
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Conrad, speaking to reporters Monday, said one-third of the non-Social Security, non-Medicare surplus should go for taxes, one-third for new spending, and one-third for paying down the publicly held debt.
Indeed, the real reason to go nuts is that we should be running a 5 percent of GDP surplus to deal with the enormous Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid bills looming over the horizon.
Democrats argued that Bush's broad energy plan would force the government to dip into the federal budget surplus, or the Medicare and Social Security trust funds, which, they predict, will be strained enough by increased numbers of beneficiaries in the next few years.
Payroll taxes were raised and a surplus generated that is placed in the Social Security Trust Fund, which invests in Treasury bonds.
The president says that the budget surplus should be devoted to shoring up Social Security, which is projected to go bankrupt in 2029.
Down the road, aging baby boomers will steadily drain the surplus in the current fund, and Social Security will need some help to stay afloat.
It will make reform of Social Security harder by reducing the budget surplus that could have been used to finance the costs of moving from one pensions system to another.
Specifically, I propose that we commit 60 percent of the budget surplus for the next 15 years to Social Security, investing a small portion in the private sector just as any private or state government pension would do.
The Social Security Admnistration said it currently has a surplus, meaning it is receiving more from payroll taxes than it is paying out in benefits.
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Rather than talk about spending cuts, he prefers to urge tax cuts, even though America's budget surplus would be better devoted to shoring up Social Security.
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