WASHINGTON – The Concord Coalition today praised
the bipartisan effort of Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Charles Stenholm (D-TX) to
inject a needed dose of reality into the Social Security reform debate by offering a plan
that makes the kind of hard choices necessary to ensure the program’s long-term
fiscal sustainability and generational equity.
WASHINGTON – The Concord Coalition today praised
the bipartisan effort of Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Charles Stenholm (D-TX) to
inject a needed dose of reality into the Social Security reform debate by offering a plan
that makes the kind of hard choices necessary to ensure the program’s long-term
fiscal sustainability and generational equity.
“The
Social Security debate has gone off-track. Leaders of both parties are in denial. Many
Democrats are minimizing the enormous challenges facing the current system and many
Republicans assume that these challenges can be met by simply creating personally owned
retirement accounts. The Kolbe-Stenholm plan properly rejects this free lunch stand-off
and faces up to the hard choices,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of The
Concord Coalition.
“As the
President and Members of Congress turn their attention to crafting a Social Security
reform plan, it is vital that they acknowledge, as Kolbe and Stenholm have done, that any
credible plan must include gradual reductions in Social Security’s long-term cost.
Absent change, Social Security and other entitlement programs such as Medicare and
Medicaid will consume an ever-larger share of the budget and the economy as the baby
boomers retire and Americans live longer lives. These benefit programs are a vital part of
the nation’s retirement security fabric. But they cannot grow faster than the economy
forever. This fundamental issue must be addressed in any credible Social Security reform
plan ¾ regardless
of whether it creates personal accounts. To their credit, the authors of this plan
haven’t ducked the challenge,” Bixby said.
“Not
surprisingly, some have criticized this plan for making hard choices. Instead, the
co-sponsors should be congratulated for proposing a plan that does not rely on rosy
assumptions, like the existence of perpetual budget surpluses or robust market returns on
personal accounts, to close Social Security’s fiscal gap,” Bixby said.
“There is no
such thing as a ‘perfect’ plan, and there is no such thing as a cost-free
solution. Trade-offs will always need to be made. One need not agree with every element of
the Kolbe-Stenholm plan to realize its valuable contribution to the Social Security reform
debate. The Concord Coalition heartily commends Representatives Kolbe and Stenholm for
recognizing the reality that hard choices need to be made, with or without personal
accounts. We hope that the sponsors of other reform plans, and those who minimize the need
for reform, will be as willing to acknowledge the consequences of their convictions,”
Bixby said.
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-N.H.) and Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) serve as Concord’s
co-chairs and former Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson serves as president.
