What would happen to Social Security reforms that were financed in part with general revenues?
The cost of Social Security reform may well be higher than just the amount available from the program’s surplus. In that case, general revenue funds may be necessary to pay for the transition costs of reforms. Because the lockbox would require a supermajority to approve any budget resolution in which the non-Social Security portions of the budget were not in balance, this could give a political minority veto power over Social Security reform. • Would this simply encourage more creative accounting? The lockbox legislation would prohibit including the Social Security surplus in budget totals developed by either the President or Congress. As a result, the unified budget would not reflect all the revenues that have come into the Treasury. Although there is justification for directing the ways in which the Social Security surplus is to be used, making it disappear from budget totals is misleading. The budget should be an honest representation of all revenues and spending. Pretending that so
