Washington, DC: With Congress back in Washington this week and set to resume debating 2002 spending measures, Representative Ron Paul is urging his colleagues to adopt a “hands off” policy with regard to Social Security funds. Recent reports that the projected federal surplus is shrinking underscore the need to protect Social Security from the voracious spending appetite of Congress.

“Congress repeatedly has raided Social Security to pay for other pork-barrel programs,” Paul stated. “It’s time to change the spending culture in Washington and end the practice of shifting Social Security funds around to claim a balanced budget. When revenues fall, Congress must learn to cut its spending- just as any American family would. It’s unconscionable that Congress is spending the retirement dollars of millions of Americans who have paid into the Social Security system their entire working lives.”

Paul introduced legislation earlier this year that would outlaw the spending of Social Security funds for other purposes. The “Social Security Preservation Act” (HR 219) requires that all monies raised by Social Security taxes must be spent only on payments to beneficiaries, with all excess revenues invested in interest-bearing certificates of deposit.

“With discipline, we can create a Social Security trust fund that contains real money rather than simply IOUs,” Paul concluded. “However, the first step is to bar Congress from raiding the fund and threatening the retirement security of every working American.”

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