Social Security Protection Act

H.R. 2865, the Social Security Protection Act, was designed to prevent the federal government from using Social Security trust fund surpluses to cover general budget deficits. The bill would have required automatic, across-the-board spending cuts—known as sequestration—to non-defense programs in 2002 if the government ran a deficit in 2001. By mandating these offsets, the legislation aimed to ensure that Social Security funds remained reserved for their intended purpose rather than being used to finance other government operations.