Social Security An Emergency?

From CNN (emphasis added):

Congressional negotiators worked to cut hundreds of federal programs, big and small, as they fashioned a $500 billion-plus catchall government funding bill Thursday. ...

In the meantime, the House passed a bill to keep the federal government open for another week to give negotiators time to fashion the omnibus spending bill, pass it in both the House and Senate and then adjourn for the year.

Democrats hoped to make an exception for a $3.7 billion increase for veterans health care, calculating that Bush and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill would relent in the case of that politically sacrosanct program. ...

The White House does not believe the additional veterans money is needed and previously has issued veto threats if the money for veterans is not accompanied by cuts elsewhere in the budget. That approach has been widely seen as unrealistic, even by top Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

But with the White House playing such a strong hand in the negotiations, Boehner now insists Democrats stick within the president's $933 billion figure, with exceptions for border security and a few other "emergencies."