Two former congressmen have teamed-up on a bipartisan basis to collect ideas on how to reform the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program before benefit cuts are slated to begin toward the end of 2016.
Former Rep. Jim McCrery, R-LA and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. have a combined 40 years worth of knowledge of how congress acts, so they know what a monumental task it is to reform such a large program that helps millions of people a year.
“If our combined 40 years in Congress has taught us anything, it is that policymakers rarely deal with problems until the last possible minute,” the two former congressmen wrote in Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.
As it sits know, the SSDI program will see about a 20 percent reduction in benefits paid by the end of 2016 if no changes are made. It has been suggested that Congress should reallocate some funds from the Social Security Retirement program to sure up the SSDI program for a few more years, but Social Security’s retirement fund will begin to see reduced benefits by 2033.
“We are not sure a clean reallocation – unaccompanied by reforms – is politically viable, particularly with insolvency of the old-age program within sight,” McCrery and Pomeroy wrote.
This new initiative is expected to solicit ideas on how to save the SSDI program, but also ways to improve and reform the program. The proposed ideas will be reviewed and presented at a conference in 2015 and will be published with suggested recommendations.
It should be interesting to see the reaction to the two congressmen’s recommendations, but regardless of what comes of it at least someone is taking real steps to resolving a looming crisis.
“We don’t have all the answers,” the two congressmen wrote, “no one does.”
To learn more about this new initiative click here.
