Social Security Archive
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Program Cuts Under a Balanced Budget Amendment: How Severe Might They Be?
November 15, 2011
The constitutional balanced budget amendment that the House is expected to consider this week could force Congress to cut all programs by an average of 17.3 percent by 2018. If revenues are not raised (the House-passed budget resolution assumes no increase above current-policy levels) and all programs are cut by the same percentage, … -
Balanced Budget Amendment Highly Ill-Advised for Addressing Long-Term Fiscal Problems
November 14, 2011
The balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution that the House will consider this week would be a highly ill-advised way to address the nation's long-term fiscal problems. It would threaten significant economic harm while raising a host of problems for the operation of Social Security and other vital federal functions. The … -
The Composition of Past Deficit-Reduction Packages – And Lessons for the Next One
November 14, 2011
Revenue increases were a part of every major deficit-reduction package in the 1980s and 1990s until the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. In several cases — notably in 1982 and 1984 (where they offset a portion of President Reagan's large tax cuts of 1981) — they dominated the package. In several other cases … -
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on House Speaker Boehner’s New Budget Proposal
Updated July 27, 2011
House Speaker John Boehner’s new budget proposal would essentially require, as the price of raising the debt ceiling again early next year, a choice between deep cuts in the years immediately ahead in Social Security and Medicare benefits for current retirees, repeal of health reform’s coverage expansions, or wholesale … -
Testimony: Robert Greenstein, President, on “Deficit Reduction: A Review of Key Issues”
July 26, 2011
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for the invitation to testify here today. As you well know, the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and substantial changes in policy will be needed to right the ship. As a number of bipartisan commission have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim … -
What the 2011 Trustees' Report Shows About Social Security
May 24, 2011
On May 13, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program’s financial status. [1] The trustees’ report shows some mild deterioration in the program’s short- and long-term outlook — a finding that was widely expected and well within the range of past revisions. Several key … -
Media Briefing: Understanding the Annual Reports of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees
May 13, 2011
Robert Greenstein, the Center’s President, and Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow at the Center and one of Washington’s leading experts on social insurance programs, discuss what the reports say about the long-term financial status of Social Security and Medicare.
Duration: 11:17
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Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2011 Social Security Trustees' Report
May 13, 2011
The trustees’ report shows that Social Security faces no immediate crisis and will have substantial resources to pay benefits even over the long run, but it faces a long-term shortfall that Congress should address sooner rather than later so the program can meet its promises. … -
Proposed Cap on Federal Spending Would Force Deep Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
Revised April 15, 2011
A prominent proposal by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to limit total federal spending to no more than 20.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is attracting increasing attention, may sound benign, but it would inevitably force enormous cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and possibly Social Security. The … -
Off the Charts Blog Post: Ryan’s Rx for Medicaid Means Millions More Uninsured or Underinsured Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Children
April 4, 2011
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will unveil a budget tomorrow that would cut Medicaid by as much as $1 trillion over the next 10 years and convert it into a block grant. He and others will likely claim that these changes would merely rein in “out-of-control” Medicaid costs while letting states stretch their reduced federal … -
Media Briefing: Principles and Cautions for Deficit Reduction
March 24, 2011
Robert Greenstein, President, and James R. Horney, Vice President for Fiscal Policy discuss a major new report, which suggests a framework for a comprehensive deficit reduction package, discusses the appropriate mix of tax and program savings for it, recommends some important ways to achieve those savings, explains the effects that such a package should have on poverty and inequality, and highlights some misguided proposals that policymakers should avoid.
Duration: 20:13
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A Framework for Deficit Reduction: Principles and Cautions
March 24, 2011
The nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course, and policymakers need to make major changes in policy. As a number of bipartisan panels have recommended over the past year, policymakers should aim to stabilize the debt as a share of the economy (the Gross Domestic Product) so the debt does not rise relentlessly as a share of the … -
Testimony: Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow, Before the Committee on the Budget
March 17, 2011
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Van Hollen, and members of the committee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today to discuss health and retirement security. Our landmark public programs — Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — are bulwarks in defending the well-being of America’s seniors and people with disabilities.… -
House Bill Means Fewer Children in Head Start, Less Help for Students to Attend College, Less Job Training, and Less Funding for Clean Water
Updated March 1, 2011
Some 157,000 at-risk children up to age 5 could lose education, health, nutrition, and other services under Head Start, while funds for Pell Grants that help students go to college would fall by nearly 25 percent, under a bill passed by the House that would cut current-year non-security discretionary funding by an average of 14.3 percent.… -
Bowles-Simpson Social Security Proposal Not a Good Starting Point for Reforms
February 17, 2011
The Social Security proposal from the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission is not a suitable starting point, let alone a reasonable outcome, for Social Security reform because it relies far too much on deep benefit cuts to restore solvency to the program and makes a number of harmful changes. The Social Security proposal … -
Media Briefing: Examining Serious Flaws in the Bowles-Simpson Social Security Plan
February 17, 2011
Paul N. Van de Water and Robert Greenstein discuss the problematic changes proposed in the Bowles-Simpson Social Security Plan
Duration: 14:31
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House GOP Plan Cuts Non-Security Discretionary Programs 15 Percent Through End of Fiscal Year
February 4, 2011
House Republican leaders announced yesterday the next steps in their plan to impose deep cuts in non-security discretionary (annually appropriated) programs. Under the plan, non-security programs would shrink, on average, by 15.4 percent below current funding under the continuing resolution (which expires on March 4) and 19.4 percent below what President Obama proposed … -
Media Briefing: The Corker-McCaskill Proposal to Cap Total Federal Spending: Is It Sound Policy?
February 1, 2011
Executive Director, Robert Greenstein, and Senior Fellow, Paul Van de Water discuss the “Commitment to American Prosperity Act” that would set a binding spending cap of 20.6% of the Gross Domestic Product.
Duration: 16:59
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Corker-McCaskill Spending Cap Doesn’t Account for Basic Changes in Society and Government
February 1, 2011
The proposal from Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to limit total federal spending to 20.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the average from 1970 to 2008, would force draconian cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and many other programs while making it harder for the nation to recover from recession. That’s because the proposal, which … -
Federal Debt on Unsustainable Path Under Current Policies
January 31, 2011
The latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirm what we already knew: the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. [1] If we continue current policies — including a further extension of the Bush tax cuts, which policymakers recently extended through 2012 — deficits will remain … -
Policy Basics: Introduction to Supplemental Security Income
January 13, 2011
What Is the Supplemental Security Income Program? The federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides monthly cash assistance to people who are disabled, blind, or elderly and have little income and few assets. SSI is distinct from the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs commonly known as Social Security, though … -
Social Security Benefits are Modest
January 11, 2011
Social Security benefits may be on the chopping block as policymakers wrestle with the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. The co-chairs of the President’s fiscal commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, proposed a plan to ensure Social Security’s long-term solvency that relies on benefit cuts for two-thirds of its savings over the next 75 years, and … -
Introduction to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program
January 10, 2011
What Is Supplemental Security Income? The federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides monthly cash assistance to people who are disabled, blind, or elderly and have little income and few assets. In December 2009, 7.7 million people collected SSI benefits (see Figure 1). For three-fifths of recipients, SSI represents their only source of income. [1] … -
Despite Deep Recession and High Unemployment, Government Efforts — Including the Recovery Act — Prevented Poverty from Rising in 2009, New Census Data Show
January 5, 2011
Despite a deep recession, very high unemployment, and widespread hardship, a combination of existing safety net programs and temporary expansions in them enacted in 2009 all but prevented a rise in the poverty rate that year, according to a Center analysis of new poverty data the U.S. Census Bureau released this week that …
