President Donald Trump announced two nominations to the Social Security Advisory Board. One nominee, Michael Astrue, was appointed to the remainder of an existing board position that expires Sept. 20, 2022, and the other nominee, Jason Fichtner, was nominated for a position that is set to begin Oct. 1, 2018.
Astrue is the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration, a position he held from 2007-2013. He was nominated by former President George W. Bush. Priro to heading Social Security, Astrue served as general counsel and as an acting deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Astrue also served as associate counsel to two former presidents, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Fichtner is a former senior research fellow at Mercatus Center at George Mason University, according to information from the university’s website. He has experience working for Social Security as an acting deputy commissioner and served as a senior economist with the Joint Economic Committee for Congress. He has previously advocated for increasing the retirement age, eliminating cost-of-living-adjustments (COLA), and increasing Social Security taxes as a way to extend the life of the Social Security Trust Funds.
Remember, these are two Republican appointments to the Social Security Advisory Board, so they are likely to be more conservative and support ideas like increasing the full retirement age or reducing benefits than necessarily increasing Social Security taxes. Fortunately, the Social Security Advisory Board has no direct role in managing the agency’s Trust Funds or managing the Social Security Administration. This board has limited influence on Social Security policy matters. Members of Congress have previously asked Social Security Advisory Board members to testify at congressional hearings about matters related to Social Security, but this is strictly an advisory board.
