Oh yes they did.
Step 1: Make it illegal for the SS Trust fund to have excess cash on hand.
Step 2: Use excess cash to buy US Debt (called an ‘Imtragovernmental Transfer’ to make us feel better about it)
Step 3: Use said trickery to declare a surplus in the Clinton years
Step 4: Liberals scream from the rooftops that SS is not broke, since the government owes it money....pretending the government has its own source of funds, other than confiscation.
SS is now running in the red, and it has zero cash on hand. It all mist come from the general fund. Its time for Peter to pay Paul. But wait...Paul is now robbing money from his grandchild named Mary, rather than make tough budgetary decisions.
Actually, all deposits into the SSTF from payroll taxes must be immediately converted into USG securities, i.e., T-bills. Benefits are then paid when the T-bills are redeemed. We now have about $2.7 trillion in T-bills, but since SS has been running in the red since 2010 and will continue to do so permanently, the T-bills are being used to make up the shortfall. They will run out in 2031/32 and by law, SS can only pay out in benefits what it receives in revenue meaning a cut of about 25% for all SS beneficiaries,
Of course, in order to redeem the SSTF T-bills, the General Fund must borrow 42 cents of every federal dollar spent. So we are borrowing money to pay SS benefits and despite what Pelosi and the Dems say, SS is contributing to our national debt.