Recently, a group of high-profile corporate CEOs has been lobbying lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to include Social Security in the debt discussion. These CEOs, members of the DC-based and corporate-backed campaign to “Fix the Debt“, have joined calls by the conservative Heritage Foundation to “redesign Social Security.”

Here’s the thing: Social Security doesn’t contribute to the deficit. Workers and their employers pay directly into Social Security with every paycheck, and then receive benefits in retirement or in the case of disability or death. Claiming that Social Security should be included in debt talks is nothing more a backdoor strategy to cut Social Security, because it simply does not contribute to the debt.

Even the conservative hero President Ronald Reagan understood the distinction.