Hearing of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee - Disability Insurance and Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Funds

Hearing

Mr. Chairman, I want to start off by laying out how I see Social Security, and how I think virtually all Americans see it, too.

There is just one Social Security. One single Social Security system provides birth-to-death protection for American workers and their families.

Just like 168 million other Americans, I pay into Social Security with every paycheck.

My paycheck doesn't have a line that says "Disability Insurance" and a line that says "retirement or survivor benefits." It has one line for Social Security contributions.

My Social Security contributions, just like those of every other American worker, pay for one Social Security system that protects my family and me -- along with all other workers and their families -- when we need it.

You can't break Social Security up into separate pieces.

That's the reason all of us, including Social Security's trustees and our witnesses today, usually talk about one Social Security trust fund, which is currently projected to be able to pay 100 percent of earned benefits through 2033.

When we begin our working lives, none of us knows what kind of insurance from Social Security we'll need, or at what stage of our lives we'll need it.

Some workers will die young, leaving family to use Social Security survivor's protection.

About one in four of today's 20-year-olds will become disabled before reaching retirement age and therefore will need Social Security disability benefits.

We also know that the risk of a serious, work-ending disability will rise significantly as Americans age --

Americans are twice as likely to qualify for Social Security benefits because of a disability at age 50 as they are at age 40, and four times more likely to qualify at age 60.

And of course, more than three-fourths of workers will eventually receive Social Security retirement benefits, perhaps in addition to other Social Security benefits they received when they were younger.

These three Social Security protections -- disability, retirement and survivor benefits -- make up a seamless whole.

For example, disabled workers don't have to reapply when they reach age 66 and qualify to begin receiving earned retirement benefits, instead of their earned disability benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) simply continues paying the same benefit amount.

It seems that some in Congress are trying to segregate Social Security into separate parts -- a retirement plan, life insurance, and disability protection -- but Social Security can't be ripped apart.

The 11 million Americans currently receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits paid for their benefits with hard work and now rely on them, just like the other 48 million Social Security recipients.

They earned this disability insurance protection by paying into it, every month. This isn't welfare, they earned it with every paycheck.

Their benefits average only about $1,100 a month, but they are a lifeline.

More than half of disabled workers receiving Social Security would live in poverty without their earned benefits, despite years of hard work before they became disabled.

And don't forget -- as we've learned in many prior Subcommittee hearings, it is very hard to qualify for Social Security on the basis of disability.

The eligibility rules are very strict, and only four out of every ten applicants are found to have impairments which are severe enough to qualify for SSDI. Many disabled Americans do not live long enough to collect retirement benefits -- death rates among disabled Social Security recipients are three to six times higher than among others their age.

Historically, Congress has treated Social Security's trust funds as one unified reserve. Isn't that the way everybody treats it, as one system?

Congress has from time-to-time fine-tuned the Social Security contributions going into the trust funds to ensure that they are equally able to pay Americans the benefits they earned.

Congress has never before used an accounting shortfall in one part of the system to prevent earned benefits from being paid to those who earned them.

The allocation of workers' Social Security contributions has been fine-tuned by Congress for decades -- 11 times to date.

But it seems like this time, some are trying to rip out Social Security's earned disability protection and make it something separate, or claim it is taking resources away from seniors.

This is a manufactured crisis. Social Security has $2.8 trillion available in its trust fund to pay full, earned benefits to all recipients.

The bottom line is that Social Security has money in its trust fund which can be used to prevent any cuts in earned benefits.

As you can see on the display, over Social Security's lifetime, Social Security has taken in $18 trillion and spent $15.2 trillion, leaving a $2.8 trillion surplus for future earned benefit payments.

The 11 million people who are facing a 20 percent benefit cut helped build up that surplus with their contributions.

However, rather than reassuring all Americans that Congress will let Social Security use its worker-funded reserves to pay 100 percent of earned benefits, this year House Republicans adopted an unprecedented new rule that programs in a 20 percent benefit cut for 11 million Americans.

The new House rule limits Congress's options for preventing benefit cuts.

The rule attempts to use 11 million Americans who need their earned Social Security benefits for leverage in a larger Republican effort to cut Social Security.

Americans of all ages and walks of life overwhelmingly support Social Security. I have here statements from AARP and the Alliance for Retired Americans, who represent millions of American seniors, Paralyzed Veterans of America, who represents disabled veterans, and from 48 other groups representing disabled Americans. All of them ask Congress to let Social Security use its reserves to prevent benefit cuts, and they express concern about using earned Social Security benefits as a bargaining chip.

I ask unanimous consent that these statements be inserted into the record.

Over the long term, Social Security does face a challenge, but it is a manageable one -- one I look forward to addressing on a bipartisan basis, keeping in mind the vital role Social Security plays in every American's life.

But the first step is to let Social Security use its own money -- the money workers have contributed -- to pay Americans the full benefits they need and that they have earned.

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