Recently, an email forward based on some garbage about Social Security from the Free Republic magazine has been surfacing throughout Van Zandt County.

Most of it is a lie.

Anne McAfee, The State Decmocratic Executive Committee member for Senate District 14 has prepared this reply to the garbage that has been sent around, and I'm posting it here in its entirety. I'm sure many of you have received this message, and it is important we have the facts straight.
Subject: Responses to Internet falshoods about Social Security

> Social Security:
>
> 1. Q: Which party took Social Security from an independent fund
> and put it in the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
>
> A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic-controlled House and
> Senate.

RESPONSE: Half-truth. The Social Security Trust Fund has always been a
separate trust fund and remains so today. However, in 1969 while LBJ was
still president, Congress created what is called a "unified budget."
Richard Nixon was the first president to take advantage of the new unified
budget. Thus when he spent more money than he took in, he could claim the
money in the Social Security Trust Fund as part of the budget, so the
deficit didn't look as bad as it actually was.
>
...................................................................................................................................
> 2. Q: Which party put a tax on Social Security?
>
A: The Democratic party.

RESPONSE: True. Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats created Social
Security in 1937. There is no free lunch. The legislation which created
Social Security also included a tax to pay for it.
>
...............................................................................................................................
> 3. Q: Which party increased the tax on Social Security?

> A: The Democratic Party with Al Gore casting the deciding vote.

RESPONSE: The first tax on Social Security benefits was enacted in 1983 by Ronald Reagan when the Senate was controlled by the Republicans--- and the House was controlled by a combination of Republicans and 27 conservative Democrats--- "Democrats" who now call themselves Republicans--- such as Reps. Billy Tauzin, Kent Hance, Phil Gramm, Richard Shelby, and others.

. . . The creators of this fiction are hoping you confuse Al Gore's
1993 deciding vote--- in support of the Deficit Reduction Plan--- with a tax on
Social Security benefits. The 1993 plan raised taxes on 1.2% of the wealthiest Americans and included a modest increase in the gasoline tax. as well as an expansion of the 1983 tax on Social Security benefits, with every penny of the proceeds on the tax on benefits dedicated to Medicare to extend the solvency of Medicare by several years.

These taxes were made necessary by the fact that the previous Reagan-Bush Administrations had
QUADRUPLED the national budget debt to $4.5 TRILLION! By bringing down the
deficit, Al Gore's deciding vote made possible what economists accurately describe as "the longest
economic expansion in our nation's history!" And the Medicare Trust Fund was put back in the black.
.................................................................................................................................
> 4. Q Which party decided to give your Social Security money to
> immigrants?

> A: That's right, the Democratic Party.
> Immigrants that move into this country at 65 get SSI and have never paid a
dime into the system. This is costing us millions of dollars.
>
> Then, after doing all this, the Democrats turn around and
> tell you the Republicans want to take your Social Security away from you.

RESPONSE: A total fabrication! Such immigrants receive zero money from the Social Security Trust Fund. However, some very poor immigrants do get SSI benefits which are paid out of general revenues, and therefore have absolutely NO impact on Social Security benefits or the Social Security Trust Fund.

............................................................................................................................
>5. The worst part about it is that people forget who did what!

RESPONSE: In fact, the people who created this propaganda about Social
Security are counting on people "to forget who did what!" Otherwise people
who get such garbage on the Internet would throw it in the trash where it
belongs!
>
................................................................................................................................
>6. Do you think people caught on to this during the November elections?

RESPONSE: As Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people SOME of the
time, but you can't fool them ALL of the time. People will soon catch onto
the fact that the Republicans have used two front groups--- United Seniors
and Seniors-Plus--- to serve as a fig-leaf to cover up Republicans' notoriously
bad voting records on Social Security and Medicare.

In fact, Republican Senator George Murphy, the co-founder of United Seniors, voted
AGAINST the creation of Medicare in 1965. (See the 1965 Congressional
Quarterly, p. 1493 & p. 1535 for Sen. Murphy's July 28, 1965 vote.)

...................................................................................................................................
>7. Remember this on the next election and pass it on to your friends.

RESPONSE: Yes, please do remember this at the next election. Remember that
some people are willing to distort, deceive, falsify, and twist the facts---
in order to achieve a political goal.


Unlike the anonymous claims circulating on the Internet about Social Security, I'm willing to sign my name and take responsibility for the the research in the responses shown here. ---Anne McAfee, Austin, Texas