Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Lockbox Act.
Passage of this legislation will make certain that the Social Security and Medicare surpluses are protected in a "lock-box'' and are not affected by spending increases and tax cuts. However, the Medicare surplus is not taken off-budget by this bill and therefore is not ensured the same protection as the Social Security surplus under current budget rules. This is a critical flaw in this bill and I do not believe that H.R. 2 alone will solve the long-term challenges facing Medicare. Nevertheless, I support passage of the Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Lockbox Act of 2001 and will remain committed to protecting these surpluses.
I believe it is absolutely essential that we maintain our fiscal discipline and continue paying down our debt. We must provide resources to deal with long term problems facing Social Security and Medicare, while making room for targeted tax cuts and investments in priority programs.
I am also proud to have joined my colleagues, Mike Ross and Dennis Moore, in introducing H.R. 560, a bill that would take Medicare off-budget, giving it the same protected status as Social Security, and would lock away Medicare surpluses unless they are to be used for current Medicare programs. While I support the bill before us, our bill has a much stronger enforcement mechanism and would be even more difficult, if not impossible, to violate.