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Legislative Update Week of February 2, 2004
As you know, the mission of TREA Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is to defend and protect the earned retirement benefits of its members. What you may not know is that monies from the Social Security, Medicare, and military retirement trust funds are being kept as a part of the Federal budget. These funds can be spent whenever they are needed and all the government simply does is write an IOU to the trust fund. In an attempt to correct this injustice, Rep. Gene Taylor (MS) has introduced H.J.RES.88, which would provide for a constitutional amendment to lock the trust funds and keep them separate from other government funds. Contrary to popular belief, Social Security monies are not kept separate from other government funds. As a Congressional Research Service report states, “The trust funds do not actually hold money; they are simply accounts; and benefits are not paid from the trust funds, but from the Treasury. As with Social Security receipts, the money used is indistinguishable from that used to make other government expenditures.” If Rep. Taylor’s resolution is passed and ratified, it would call for keeping the receipts -- as well as interest accrued -- and outlays separate, not counting them as receipts or outlays of the United States. To support the need for a resolution, Congressman Taylor uses a chart that shows the debt, which is “owed” to select trust funds. As of September 30, 2003, the total amount owed to the Social Security trust fund was $1.48 trillion; and the total amount owed to the military retirement fund was $172 billion. To date, Rep. Taylor’s resolution has six co-sponsors including: Representative Marion Berry (AR), Leonard Boswell (IA), Lincoln Davis (TN), Martin Frost (TX), William Jefferson (LA) and Major Owens (NY). TSCL and its Board of Trustees wholly support H.J.RES.88. We urge our members and supporters to contact their Members of Congress to support this important legislation. This is your money and it should be kept for trust funds, not for the government to use as they see fit. February 2004 | ||||||||
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