Over the past several months, opponents of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act have waged a propaganda campaign to derail that legislation, attempting to portray Railroad Retirement as an ailing, taxpayer funded railroaders’ welfare system. The President’s 2002 Budget Blueprint implies that the system is receiving massive federal subsidies and is not able to meet its future pension obligations. That’s just plain false. The fact is that the system currently holds sufficient funds in reserve to pay full benefits to all recipients for six years without another dime coming in. Under most anticipated scenarios of future income versus expenditures, the system is actuarially sound for at least the next 75 years. Most importantly, the American taxpayer does not fund Railroad Retirement! These funds come directly from heavy payroll-based contributions from railroads and railroad employees. It is true that back during the Reagan years, when the newly deregulated industry was in crisis and rail employment was being decimated, it became necessary to require retirees with incomes in excess of $25,000.00 per year to contribute a portion of their income back into the Railroad Retirement fund. However, that “tax” is applicable only to folks who receive income from Railroad Retirement in the first place. It is also true that if a portion of the railroad retirement fund is invested in higher yield equities (other than government bonds), then those investments are technically recorded as an “outlet” or government expenditure. Ironically, if those exact same funds are used to purchase government bonds (earning a lower interest rate) then it would not be categorized as an expense. Sadly, this is really nothing more than an accounting maneuver that allows opponents to fabricate their self-serving horror stories about "a $39.7 billion unfunded liability…" as Mr. Bush's Blueprint put it. It is shameful for these politicians to play such shell games and spread such falsehoods in order to deny much needed and well deserved benefits to railroad workers and their families. Our coalition of rail labor and management is working hard to set the record straight and to assure success of the legislation. Just this week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee openly expressed its disappointment with the misinformation in the President’s Budget Blueprint, and has set enactment of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act as one of its priorities.