President Barack Obama recently released his 2016 fiscal year budget. This budget rejects the Republican’s scheme to forbid transferring funds from Social Security’s retirement trust fund to its disability trust fund.
Projections estimate that the SSDI trust fund will be depleted by as early as 2016, and if nothing is done, 11 million Americans will see close to a 20 percent cut in their disability pay every month.
In January the House Republicans voted on its chamber’s rules, which forbade the transferring of funds that would stabilize both trust funds. The move was seen as a maneuver by the Republicans to start the conversation about cuts to Social Security’s disability program, but President Obama would have none of it.
The president has insisted that Congress should do something it has done time and time again for decades, transfer funds from one trust fund to another to increase the longevity of both trust funds until a permanent solution can be found.
Nancy Altman, co-director of an advocacy group that opposes Social Security benefit cuts, said the president is the adult in the room compared to his Republican adversaries.
“In light of how economically vulnerable those who receive Social Security (Disability Insurance) benefits are, that rebalancing should be enacted sooner rather than later, to avoid frightening those beneficiaries about whether their full benefits will be paid on time,” Altman said.
The Huffington Post reported on this story earlier this month. Leave it to the Republicans to enact scare tactics that solve no problems. If the Republicans were serious about revamping SSDI why has not one proposal been submitted to Congress for consideration? Eventually the Republicans will balk and agree to transferring funds between the trust funds. The last thing the Republicans want before a presidential election are news reports that they cut disabled worker’s pay by nearly 20 percent.
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