(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District-KS) introduced legislation Wednesday to amend title II of the Social Security Act to ensure that the receipts and expenditures of the Social Security trust funds are not counted in a unified federal budget.

“I promised constituents that I would lead the fight to balance the budget without borrowing money from the Social Security Trust Fund,” said Congressman Moore. “This bill is the first step towards saving Social Security for senior citizens and strengthening retirement for baby boomers. I believe it is important that we pass this legislation so we can stop talking about “general surplus” and “Social Security surplus”; so we can all speak the same language and tell the truth to the American people.”

As a result of laws enacted in 1983, 1985, and 1990, Social Security is considered “off budget” for federal budget purposes. While this means that Social Security is not considered as part of the federal budget, Americans are perplexed by the continued use of aggregate budget numbers that include Social Security’s receipts and expenditures.

This bill will require the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office to remove all Social Security revenues and expenditures from the annual budget process. This will make clear that the Social Security Trust Fund is completely off budget.

“Kansas taxpayers deserve to know the facts about federal surpluses or deficits,” said Congressman Moore. “This bill takes the Social Security Trust Fund completely off budget and ends the practice of using surpluses to hide deficits from the American people.”

Congressman Moore introduced similar legislation during the 106th Congress.

“We have a real opportunity to take a stand in favor of fiscal responsibility and honest budgeting. Members on both sides of the aisle need to work together in a bipartisan manner to ensure that we get back on the road to fiscal responsibility,” Moore said. “Our country simply can’t afford to play politics with our seniors’ Social Security funds and our children and grandchildren’s future.”