WASHINGTON — With the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means holding hearings
today and tomorrow on plans to reform Social Security, The Concord Coalition commends the
Members of Congress who had the courage to submit bipartisan Social Security proposals
that are both fiscally responsible and generationally sound. Concord singled out for
praise the sponsors of the Kolbe-Stenholm bill (21st Century Retirement
Security Act, H.R.1793) and the Senate Bipartisan Social Security Agreement.
WASHINGTON — With the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means holding hearings
today and tomorrow on plans to reform Social Security, The Concord Coalition commends the
Members of Congress who had the courage to submit bipartisan Social Security proposals
that are both fiscally responsible and generationally sound. Concord singled out for
praise the sponsors of the Kolbe-Stenholm bill (21st Century Retirement
Security Act, H.R.1793) and the Senate Bipartisan Social Security Agreement.
Concord Coalition Co-Chairs and former U.S. Senators Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Sam Nunn
(D-GA) draw three conclusions in letters addressed to Congressmen Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and
Charlie Stenholm (D-TX), and Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH), John Breaux (D-LA), Bob Kerrey
(D-NE) and Charles Grassley (R-IA). "First, changing demographics make the current
pay-as-you-go benefit structure unsustainable. Absent change, the system will either
burden future workers with steep tax hikes, or betray future retirees with deep benefit
cuts.
"Second, there are only two roads to genuine reform, and a workable plan must
pursue both. Reform must reduce Social Security’s long-term burden by reducing its
long-term costs. And it must make the remaining burden more bearable by increasing
national savings, and hence the size of tomorrow’s economic pie. Doing so requires
the hard choices of fiscal discipline. In short, there are no magic bullets. … Third,
the time for action is now. The longer reform is delayed, the worse the problem will
become and the more draconian the solutions will be.
"The Concord Coalition commends your efforts because your plan recognizes each of
these conclusions. We are particularly pleased that you have resisted the temptation to
rely on speculative gains such as projected budget surpluses and higher market returns to
close Social Security’s fiscal gap. Either strategy is fraught with peril,"
Rudman and Nunn warn.
"The Concord Coalition supports the approach taken by Kolbe-Stenholm and by
Breaux-Grassley-Gregg-Kerrey because both plans are powerful antidotes to the free
lunch disease that is gripping the Social Security debate. Compared with the other
proposals being considered, these plans come closest to meeting the Concord
Coalition’s criteria. They reduce future benefits on a progressive basis, modestly
raise the eligibility age, provide a more accurate Consumer Price Index, create
individually owned retirement accounts without relying on projected budget surpluses, and
they have bipartisan support," said Concord Coalition Policy Director Robert Bixby.
"The Concord Coalition also commends Chairman Archer and all of the witnesses at
this week’s hearings for putting forth the specifics of their Social Security reform
plans. The safest place is always on the sidelines. However, if the end result of the
Social Security debate is to avoid all the hard choices, we might as well launch a new
government program to find the fountain of youth because otherwise we will never be
able to meet all of our future benefit obligations," Bixby said.
