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benefits tor the elderly or improving our nation’s transportation infrastructure, these reserves are in effect counted as general revenue by the Treasury Department.
Using Trust Funds to make the deficit appear smaller than is actually the case makes it easier for the Qpngress to meet the Gramm-Rud*Tnan maximum annual deficit targets and avoid the politically painful process of “sequestration” (across-theboard cuts in many Federal programs).
As we all know, the first step to solving a problem like the deficit is admitting that the problem exists. Americans want real deficit reduction, not more accounting tricks that allow us to postpone the tough job of balancing the budget.
My bill would prohibit the use of the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund reserves to mask the true size of the deficit. In Fiscal Year 1991, the HI Trust Fund will have an estimated reserve of $19 billion.
Because removing this $19 billion and reserves in future years from Gramm-Rudman calculations would reveal a larger (but more accurate) deficit, H.R. 4907 would increase the annual Gramm-Rudman targets by the amount of the projected annual reserve in the HI Trust Fund,
96.1%