PETERSON SAYS “THERE IS NO SURPLUS YET”
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7thDistrict) said today that a White House statement announcing a $76 billion budget surplus is misleading.
“According to my numbers, we still have a $41 billion deficit,” Peterson said. “There is no budget surplus when you add the $115 billion Social Security Trust Fund to your budget and say you’ve balanced the budget.”
Peterson, a member of The ‘Blue Dog’ Coalition, believes that it is possible to balance the budget in the near future while protecting priority programs like Social Security.
“The Coalition’s budget calls for maintaining fiscal responsibility as we move toward our goal of balancing the budget,” Peterson said. “We need to get Social Security off budget and negotiate other ways to achieve this bipartisan goal.”
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