[In the News]:Federal Budget/Social Security


This is Steve Emberwith the VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS.

American budget experts say the federal government's budgetsurplus will be gone soon. Taxes paid by Americans had createdthousands of millions of dollars more than the federal governmentneeded. However, the budget surplus now is forty-five percent lessthan it was four months ago.

The Congressional Budget Office, known as the C-B-O, released areport this week. The C-B-O is a non-political agency that advisesCongress about budget issues. It says the federal surplus willcontinue to shrink because of the weak economy and President Bush'splan to return tax money to the public. It says the government willhave to begin paying for federal programs with money that is part ofthe Social Security system. Social Security is paid for by aseparate tax on wages. American workers receive money from SocialSecurity when they retire.

Since Nineteen-Eighty-Three, Social Security has collected morein taxes from workers each year than it has needed to pay. This hascreated a surplus of money in the Social Security system.

C-B-O experts say the government will need to use some of theSocial Security surplus in the next federal spending year, whichbegins September Thirtieth. Officials said aboutnine-thousand-million dollars of this money would be needed to payfor next year's proposed government spending plan. They said thatthe tax cuts and slow economic growth will create a need to useSocial Security money for the next two years.

Officials of the Bush administration say it is still too soon totell if Social Security money will be needed. They say the tax moneybeing returned to the public could help the economy improve.

Economic experts say the C-B-O report means Congress must nowclosely examine the Bush Administration's new spending proposals.These include more money for defense, a missile defense system,education improvements, and aid for older citizens who need medicaldrugs.

Republican and Democratic members of Congress have said theSocial Security surplus must not be used to pay for governmentspending. They say any surplus can be used only for decreasing thenational debt.

Mitch Daniels is the budget director for the Bush administration.He says the Social Security surplus has been used in the past forpurposes other than paying money to retired Americans. He said itwould be a mistake to not support increased spending proposals fordefense and education.

Congress has not approved any of the thirteen spending billsneeded to keep the government operating past September Thirtieth.Congress must now examine each of the thirteen bills to see if anymoney can be cut from the spending proposals. Political experts saythat some very difficult decisions will have to be made.

This VOA Special English program IN THE NEWS was written by PaulThompson. This is Steve Ember.

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