The two Texas GOP Darths, Reps. Tom DeLay and Dick Armey, sat Speaker Hastart down and tried to convince him that it is possible to deliberately fail to hammer out budget appropriation bills by October in such a way that will allow the Republicans to blame the Democrats for demanding to spend too much money. This will allow the radical conservatives to block anything that comes from the Clinton White House, which gives them orgasms, including bills like funding America's share of NATO peacekeeping forces as they enter Kosovo, now that bombs have knocked some sense into Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia. The problem is that surpluses in the trust fund aren't simply skimmed off and spent. They are transferred to Treasury, which gives Social Security treasury bonds of equal value.
Somebody change the channel.