PLATFORM : Independent Fund

The first thing that we found is that our members and seniors generally are very concerned with the fact that Social Security is considered in budget-deficit calculations. There is a very large reserve in the Social Security Trust Fund, and this reserve is loaned to the government to finance the programs that have been carried on in the last 10 years. And that money, of course, will have to be repaid. The problem is further compounded by the fact that in determining what the deficit is in the budget, the amount of that reserve is deducted from the actual deficit. This gives a very unrealistic result.

Social Security should be as it was originally, namely an independent agency--independent of the Congress and independent of the President. Since Social Security is unique, it’s a social insurance program that’s paid for by the people that are members. And as I have indicated, the program is in surplus; it has a large reserve and so it doesn’t require any money from the general taxpayer.