WASHINGTON —
Testifying before the Senate
Finance Committee’s hearing on the final report of the President’s Commission to
Strengthen Social Security, Concord Coalition Executive Director, Robert Bixby,
blasted the Social Security Do Nothing Plan.
WASHINGTON —
Testifying before the Senate
Finance Committee’s hearing on the final report of the President’s Commission to
Strengthen Social Security, Concord Coalition Executive Director, Robert Bixby,
blasted the Social Security Do Nothing Plan.
“Changing demographics make the current pay-as-you-go
system fiscally unsustainable and generationally inequitable over the long-term.
Social Security reform is on the political agenda not because President Bush
wants to change the law but because the law must be changed.
"Suppose
that one of your colleagues introduced legislation called ‘The Social Security
Do Nothing Act.’ Under this bill, promised retirement benefits would be cut by
16 percent for today– s
30-year olds, by 29 percent for today’s
20-year olds, and by 35 percent for today’s
newborns. Alternatively, payroll taxes would suddenly go up by 34 percent in
2041. How many of you would rush to endorse this bill? None, I suspect. And yet,
these are the grim choices under the Do Nothing Plan.
“What is remarkable is not that reform plans engender such
heated debate, but that the Do Nothing Plan engenders so little outrage. Worse
yet is the fact that no one will have to endure the scrutiny and ridicule of
specifically advocating the Do Nothing Plan in order for its absurd consequences
to take effect. The Do Nothing Plan has already been enacted. It is current law.
“The question facing you is the same one that faced the
Commission ¾ what should be done to
undo the Do Nothing Plan? Ultimately it is you, our elected leaders, who must
answer this question.”
Bixby’s testimony also
outlined the Concord Coalition’s perspective on the report issued by the
President’s Commission.
The Concord
Coalition is a nonpartisan, grass roots organization dedicated to balanced
federal budgets and generationally responsible fiscal policy. Former U.S.
Senators Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Bob Kerrey (D-NE) serve as Concord’s co-chairs
and former Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson serves as president.
For the
full text of Concord
Coalition Executive Director Robert Bixby’s
testimony before the Senate
Finance Committee, please
click here.
Charts
to Accompany Testimony (Requires
Adobe Acrobat
Reader)
