Social Security Teeters; Democrats to Force Vote

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Economy

(AP)

As USA Today reported Monday, Social Security's annual surplus "nearly evaporated" for the first time in a quarter-century last year. The program is poised to be in the red for the next two years; between 2008 and 2009, it saw a revenue decline of $60 billion.

Meanwhile, with the retirement of many in the "Baby Boom" generation imminent, regular annual losses are expected beginning in 2016. Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the highest-ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, says the program's "moment of truth has arrived."

Ryan, who has offered up what President Obama has suggested is a flawed but "serious" budget proposal, is currently at the center of an effort by Democrats to force Republicans into an uncomfortable vote. As TPM reports, House Democrats are planning to use Ryan's proposal as a basis for forcing a vote on privatizing Social Security.

The proposed resolution "expresses the will of House Democrats to preserve Social Security and reaffirms our commitment to working in a bipartisan way to make common sense adjustments to strengthen the program for generations to come."

President George W. Bush attempted to privatize Social Security five years ago, but the effort failed. Though Republicans have not adopted Ryan's budget plan, Democrats are now arguing that "the Current minority party plan for Social Security is even more extreme than the plan they advanced in 2005."

Liberals describe Ryan's plan as an ill-advised effort to slash and privatize the country's primary entitlement programs. Ryan says it "rescues and strengthens Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security - allowing them to fulfill their missions and making them permanently solvent."