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Posted on 09/10/2001 11:30:58 AM PDT by Sen Jack S. Fogbound

Social Security and Medicare are Safe for Now

By Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)

Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging September 6, 2001

Critics of President Bush have recently jumped on a new bandwagon of projected misery ­ this time attempting to scare America's seniors with tales of diminishing budget surpluses and a dismal outlook for Social Security and Medicare, wagging their collective fingers of fear ­ falsely implying that the well-deserved tax rebate checks now arriving in the mail somehow might draw from Social Security, and thus hurt today's retirees.

They should know better.

The reality is ­ right now ­ the United States is enjoying its second largest budget surplus in history ­ $158 billion. Next year the budget surplus will be even larger ­ $187 billion. Those are conservative estimates. The real budget surpluses may be even larger.

The only question is whether the rest of the budget ­ everything except Social Security ­ will run a "slim" surplus ($2 billion, according to the Administration) or deficit ($9 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office). The difference amounts to just one-half of one percent of the total federal budget ‹ in other words, clearly within any economist's margin of error.

After this year's tax relief bill, we will still have a balanced budget and, by all estimates, $3 trillion to $4 trillion in surpluses ­ record surpluses for the next ten years.

The President's critics aren't criticizing your tax rebate check because of any real concerns about Social Security. They want that money to stay in Washington, DC, so they can spend it on a huge wish-list of other programs. But tax relief was passed with bipartisan support and I'll bet we won't see the new Democrat majority in the Senate, despite their leadership's scare tactics of the moment, propose a tax increase any time soon.

Contrary to the claims of the gloom and doom crowd, Social Security and Medicare are on solid fiscal ground this year and for years to come. In fact the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that during the next ten years our nation will have a total budget surplus of $3.4 trillion. Those funds will help us continue to pay down historic amounts of debt ­ $2 trillion of federal debt of the next ten years ­ the largest debt reduction ever and the maximum amount possible.

And senior citizens will continue to receive the benefits they are entitled to. In fact, according to experts of all stripes, every dollar promised in Social Security benefits is more than covered and guaranteed by incoming Social Security revenues ­ and that will remain the case, for 100% of benefits, through about the year 2015, under current law.

Despite the good news, there are some decisions that need to be made for the long haul. The impending retirement of the baby boom generation, and the outdated structure of both Medicare and Social Security demand that action be taken.

That is why my fellow Republicans and I, hopefully joined by some of our Democratic colleagues, will continue to work to better protect today's seniors by streamlining and improving the now bureaucratic Medicare system (currently with over 100,000 pages of rules, regulations, guidelines and paperwork), and strengthen Social Security by allowing younger workers (future retirees) to safely invest a portion of their current Social Security funds in private sector investments ­ and thereby enjoy better incomes in retirement.

In the meantime, today's seniors should rest assured that Social Security and Medicare are safe for now.

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