Social Security and Medicare in an Impasse Over Trustees

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/04/washington/04benefit.html?ex=1144814400&en=f1da4dc638173036&ei=5059&partner=AOL

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: April 4, 2006
WASHINGTON, April 3 — President Bush and the Senate are at an impasse over the appointment of trustees for Social Security and Medicare, crippling the panel that supervises the two programs.

This, in turn, has delayed the annual reports on the financial condition of the programs, which together account for more than one-third of all federal spending. Under federal law, the reports are supposed to be sent to Congress by April 1.

Since 2000, Social Security and Medicare have had two public trustees: John L. Palmer, former dean of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and Thomas R. Saving, an economist at Texas A&M.

Their terms have expired, and Mr. Bush has renominated them, but the Senate has taken no action. Senate leaders of both parties say they want to follow the precedent of having the public trustees serve no more than one term. But the White House said Monday that the Senate should approve the president's nominees.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, a champion of Social Security in his 24 years in the Senate, advocated the appointment of public trustees as a way to increase public confidence in the program. The trustees are supposed to make sure that assets of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are properly managed. They also try to ensure that the administration's annual reports to Congress are as reliable as possible.

In the absence of public trustees, the administration has delayed sending the 2006 reports to Congress.

In a joint statement issued with last year's reports, Mr. Palmer, a Democrat, and Mr. Saving, a Republican, broke with the Bush administration and said that Medicare's financial problems were more severe than those facing Social Security. At the time, Mr. Bush was expressing more alarm about Social Security and was trying to build support for private investment accounts.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Atrios catches Bush's Social Security plot

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2549418

[Trevelyan]

2. K&R Bookmarked --- important -- Is there anything left of Social Security

trust fund or did bush junior take it all after clinton and bush senior stole the interest...

What was that photo with that disgusted looking blond woman as bush held a thick notebook to prove that social security was just thousands of pieces of paper with no gold or money since bush senior stole Ft. Knox and whoever stole the $160 billion in gold in the basement of the WTC on 911.


:rant:

[converted_democrat]

3. K&R......n/t

[Yupster]

4. What a great line

"The trustees are supposed to make sure that assets of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are properly managed."

Yeah - what would we do without these guys. Without them the social security trust fund surplus might be looted. Imagine that.

[slipslidingaway]

5. K&R for the 1.8 trillion trust fund. n/t

[earth mom]

6. K & R! eom

[fasttense]

7. Seems to me you would want to replace the guys who manage those funds

every year just to make sure there is not corruption. But hey congress get out those rubber stamps.

[vickitulsa]

8. This is all so very PERSONAL for me!

I depend on both Social Security (SSDI, Disability benefits as my sole income) AND Medicare ... not just to stay well but to stay alive. Older folks, the disabled, and the entire crop of baby boomers like myself in America are being pushed into states of constant and increasing anxiety as we watch this corrupt administration cut funding and weaken in every way they can the social programs we have paid into and expected all our lives to be there for us!

It scares me to hear younger people saying these days that they do NOT EXPECT Social Security to be there for THEM. It's like the Repukes have succeeded already in creating that mindset in a lot of citizens, so they're halfway to their goal of completely gutting our system for social welfare.

My dad, who died at age 81 a few years ago, always told me when I voiced my concern that Social Security might be done away with by the conservatives, that they would never be allowed to do that by the vast majority of Americans that would DEMAND it remain in place. I'm sure he could never have imagined just how completely the BushII administration would trounce the Constitution and oppress our poorest and weakest citizens.

[lovuian]

9. A huge trust fund with Americans money and no trustees

this administration is Horrible and so is Congress...

[OKthatsIT]

10. I tell ya, before Bush&Co. are gone, they'll rob us of every last dime