Partisanship and sharp words set in early in Congress’ debate over the looming exhaustion of the Social Security disability trust fund.
The disability trust fund is set to be depleted by the end of fiscal year 2016, according to Social Security actuaries, at which point the nearly 11 million beneficiaries of the program would see a roughly 20 percent cut in their benefits.
That shortfall could be addressed by reallocating payroll taxes from the larger Social Security retirement trust fund to the disability trust fund, which Democrats favor.
But Republicans are seeking a longer-term solution, kicking up an acrimonious debate about the structure and integrity of a massive program that serves one of the most vulnerable populations.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., aired his complaints about Democratic rhetoric in a committee hearing on the disability program Wednesday.
Enzi said he was “disappointed” by a report circulated Monday by his counterpart on the committee, the independent self-described socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats. The report warned of Republican efforts to “pit disabled Americans against senior citizens” and that the GOP seeks to cut or privatize Social Security.
“I hope that we can have a little more conversation on these things,” Enzi said, noting that he had not been given the report before it was circulated to the press.
But Sanders, sitting next to Enzi, did not back down.
The debate is “nothing more than a manufactured crisis which is part of a long-term Republican agenda of trying to cut Social Security,” Sanders said.
In particular, Sanders and Democrats objected to a rule passed by House Republicans that would prohibit a reallocation of tax revenues from the retirement trust fund to the disability trust fund without reforms to shore up the disability program’s finances.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid weighed in on the report Wednesday, saying in a statement that it “lays bare the House Republicans’ secret agenda to threaten the benefits that American workers have earned.”
Nevertheless, Republicans in the Senate as well as the House have signaled that they are not in favor of a simple reallocation, which has been done repeatedly, without reforms to the underlying program. Such a reallocation that fully funded the disability program would move the expected expiration date for the combined trust funds from 2034 to 2033.
Enzi said that it was “rotten” that the disability trust fund was set to be run down in the next year, and noted that it would take $352 billion over the next 10 years to fully pay disability claims.
Testifying before the committee, acting Social Security commissioner Carolyn Colvin called reallocation a “temporary reprieve” that would allow Congress time to develop a long-term reform of disability insurance.
Colvin noted that the average monthly benefit for disabled workers is $1,165. Recipients whose only income is disability insurance are “making choices between eating and paying their rent,” she said.
But Republicans responded that they are skeptical of a short-term fix.
The idea that this is a trumped-up, phony crisis is an absolutely ridiculous idea,” said David Perdue of Georgia.
“I’m tired of bailing out water when the boat has a hole a mile wide,” Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Colvin.
Republicans have not sketched out which reforms they would favor. At the hearing, however, some noted that President Obama’s budget suggested some possibilities, including increased reviews of eligibility.
