By Leada Gore
al.com
(TNS)
Cutting Social Security benefits is not an option to make up the impending funding shortfall, according to a leading senior citizens advocacy group.
“The 125 million Americans age 50 and older have made clear: cutting Social Security or Medicare is not an option. This is money Americans have earned over a lifetime of hard work. They planned for retirement, followed the rules, and now Congress must keep its promise by strengthening, not cutting, Social Security,” AARP CEO Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan said in a statement.
The Board of Trustees for Social Security and Medicare released a report this week that showed the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted and no longer able to pay 100% of benefits in the fourth quarter of 2032. After that, OASI will only be able to cover 78% of total scheduled benefits, reducing monthly payments by an average of $500.
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It will take congressional action to solve the problem and Minter-Jordan said lawmakers need to move quickly on the issue.
“This should be a wake-up call: Congress needs to act. Americans have worked hard and paid into Social Security their entire lives, and they deserve to count on it when they retire. No family should see any cuts to what they’ve earned in Social Security,” she said.
“Social Security isn’t going bankrupt, but Congress needs to act to protect and strengthen it now and in the future.”
The cuts would impact some 71 million people who receive Social Security. According to AARP 43% of senior citizens—more than 25 million families—rely on Social Security for the majority of their income.
The bulk of the money for Social Security is funded through dedicated payroll taxes and taxes on benefits. Any shortfall, however, is covered by the trust funds. For the past 16 years, Social Security payments have exceeded its cash income, forcing it to dip into fund reserves to pay benefits. By law, it can’t pay out more in benefits than it receives in revenue, so once the trust fund is gone, cuts will follow.
Photo credit: AARP
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