Bushy Bashing
- Thread starter Todd
- Start date
HARDKOREBJ
sweet southern guy
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2000
- Posts
- 2,599
way to go
i loved that
i loved that
WriterDom
Good to the last drop
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2000
- Posts
- 20,077
Come on Todd. The Bush is dumb scheme cost Gore the election. Along with Gore's pride in not asking Mr. Bill's help in Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida. If you want to excite the liberals you have to feed them scandals.
Democrats say Bush using budget accounting tricks
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Democrats accused the White House on Thursday of resorting to accounting tricks to avoid the appearance of dipping into Social Security reserves to finance other government programs.
Before releasing revised budget estimates later this month, the White House said it is changing a long-standing accounting practice to determine the way Social Security tax revenues are adjusted annually. As a result, the administration will restate Social Security tax receipts for the last three years to reflect more tax revenue for those years.
The accounting shift will allow the administration to add $4.3 billion to the non-Social Security side of the budget ledger.
The amounts are relatively small in the context of a $1.7 trillion federal budget, but it could be enough to save the administration the political embarrassment of using Social Security reserves to finance other government operations.
Both Republicans and Democrats have vowed to keep the retirement system's funds off-limits, even though lawmakers have spent the money on other programs for years. Surplus Social Security revenues have been used in recent years to pay down the nations' debt held by private investors.
DEMOCRATS SEE A PORTENT OF GIMMICKS TO COME
"What we have seen today is just the opening omen of budget problems that are coming," said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
"The Social Security gimmick they are using is not just a one-time event, it is the harbinger of problems that we are going to have in next year's budget and on out," he told reporters in a telephone conference.
Democrat blame U.S. President George W. Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut for dwindling non-Social Security surpluses, saying it was too big and will force the government to dip into both Social Security and Medicare surpluses to pay for other programs and cover increased spending for defense, education and other budget priorities.
"The Bush administration has authored a budget and tax plan that does not add up and that will hurt our country," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said. "Now it is resorting to cooking the books to hide what it has done. But no accounting gimmick can conceal it."
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said that by making the accounting change the administration is "tacitly admitting that its tax cut has not only used up this year's entire Medicare surplus, but may eat into the Social Security Trust Fund as well."
Bush blames a slow economy and congressional spending increases for dwindling non-Social Security surpluses and argues his tax cut was needed to boost the sluggish economy.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office are expected to show sharply lower surplus estimates when they release new budget estimates later this month.
Social Security surpluses will be about $157 billion to $160 billion, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a television interview on Thursday. The new estimate will also show a small non-Social Security surplus, he said.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT ACTING LIKE A BUSINESS
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the administration had identified $5.6 billion in previously underestimated Social Security tax receipts for budget years 1998-2000.
She said the administration was restating the books for those years, rather than reflecting the change in current fiscal year calculation, as had been the practice for the 65-year-old retirement system. The amount is offset by a $1.3 billion Postal Service loss, she said.
She said the change was "just like a business would do."
"The president has pledged to protect and will protect Social Security and Medicare," Buchan added. "Our economy has benefited and will benefit from the president's tax cuts and the biggest threats to Social Security and Medicare and the economy are people who want either to bust the budget or raise taxes."
President Bill Clinton's former White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said the Bush administration was making the change to hide a political problem.
"If you saw a company changing a 65-year business accounting convention in the last minute when they have a problem, it may not be illegal, but it does send up a red flag and it is not good for overall confidence," Sperling said.
Democrats say Bush using budget accounting tricks
By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Democrats accused the White House on Thursday of resorting to accounting tricks to avoid the appearance of dipping into Social Security reserves to finance other government programs.
Before releasing revised budget estimates later this month, the White House said it is changing a long-standing accounting practice to determine the way Social Security tax revenues are adjusted annually. As a result, the administration will restate Social Security tax receipts for the last three years to reflect more tax revenue for those years.
The accounting shift will allow the administration to add $4.3 billion to the non-Social Security side of the budget ledger.
The amounts are relatively small in the context of a $1.7 trillion federal budget, but it could be enough to save the administration the political embarrassment of using Social Security reserves to finance other government operations.
Both Republicans and Democrats have vowed to keep the retirement system's funds off-limits, even though lawmakers have spent the money on other programs for years. Surplus Social Security revenues have been used in recent years to pay down the nations' debt held by private investors.
DEMOCRATS SEE A PORTENT OF GIMMICKS TO COME
"What we have seen today is just the opening omen of budget problems that are coming," said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
"The Social Security gimmick they are using is not just a one-time event, it is the harbinger of problems that we are going to have in next year's budget and on out," he told reporters in a telephone conference.
Democrat blame U.S. President George W. Bush's $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut for dwindling non-Social Security surpluses, saying it was too big and will force the government to dip into both Social Security and Medicare surpluses to pay for other programs and cover increased spending for defense, education and other budget priorities.
"The Bush administration has authored a budget and tax plan that does not add up and that will hurt our country," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said. "Now it is resorting to cooking the books to hide what it has done. But no accounting gimmick can conceal it."
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said that by making the accounting change the administration is "tacitly admitting that its tax cut has not only used up this year's entire Medicare surplus, but may eat into the Social Security Trust Fund as well."
Bush blames a slow economy and congressional spending increases for dwindling non-Social Security surpluses and argues his tax cut was needed to boost the sluggish economy.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office are expected to show sharply lower surplus estimates when they release new budget estimates later this month.
Social Security surpluses will be about $157 billion to $160 billion, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a television interview on Thursday. The new estimate will also show a small non-Social Security surplus, he said.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT ACTING LIKE A BUSINESS
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the administration had identified $5.6 billion in previously underestimated Social Security tax receipts for budget years 1998-2000.
She said the administration was restating the books for those years, rather than reflecting the change in current fiscal year calculation, as had been the practice for the 65-year-old retirement system. The amount is offset by a $1.3 billion Postal Service loss, she said.
She said the change was "just like a business would do."
"The president has pledged to protect and will protect Social Security and Medicare," Buchan added. "Our economy has benefited and will benefit from the president's tax cuts and the biggest threats to Social Security and Medicare and the economy are people who want either to bust the budget or raise taxes."
President Bill Clinton's former White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said the Bush administration was making the change to hide a political problem.
"If you saw a company changing a 65-year business accounting convention in the last minute when they have a problem, it may not be illegal, but it does send up a red flag and it is not good for overall confidence," Sperling said.
Nighthunter
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2001
- Posts
- 455
I liked the one with the monkeys, guess its true. He's a chimp off the old block.
