WASHINGTON-As a result of yesterday’s mid-term elections, baby boomers
will comprise a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first
time. The House will have 219 baby boomer members when the 106th Congress
convenes in January 1999.
WASHINGTON-As a result of yesterday’s mid-term elections, baby boomers
will comprise a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first
time. The House will have 219 baby boomer members when the 106th Congress
convenes in January 1999.
"The question for the baby boomers now that they have reached political
maturity is simple. Will they use their political power to make Social
Security and Medicare sustainable for the long-term?" said Concord
Coalition Executive Director Martha Phillips. "Entitlement reform is not
about today’s seniors-it is about the type of nation the boomers will leave
to future generations of Americans."
Phillips also urged the new baby boomer majority in the House to work with
the first baby boomer President in history to deal in a bipartisan fashion
with the long-term fiscal problems facing Social Security and Medicare.
"Up until now, Congress has avoided making tough decisions about Social
Security and Medicare," said Phillips. "The boomers now in power must
recognize the need to reform these programs to ensure they will be secure
for their fellow boomers, their children, and their grandchildren."
The impending retirement of the baby boom generation (those people born
between 1946 and 1964) expands the long-term obligations of Social Security
and Medicare and will signal the permanent aging of the American
population. The number of workers per beneficiary will fall from today’s
ratio of 3.4-to-1 to a level of 2.0-to-1 or less by 2030. By that time, the
percentage of senior citizens in the nation will equal or exceed the ratio
of seniors found in the state of Florida today. The entitlement reform
debate is being driven by this on-going demographic shift.
The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization
advocating fiscal responsibility while ensuring that Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations. Concord was founded
in 1992 by the late former Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.), former Sen. Warren
Rudman (R-N.H.), and former Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson. Former
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) was named a co-chair of the Concord Coalition in 1997.
