By Leada Gore
al.com
(TNS)
The Social Security Administration’s chief has a surprising new prediction about the program’s health.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” SSA commissioner Frank Bisignano said he expected the benefits program, established in 1935, to remain stable for decades to come.
“This is a long journey. It’s 90 years old. It’ll be around for another 90 years,” Bisignano said, adding “the president has … promised to preserve (Social Security) and that’s what we’re doing.”
Bisignano did not cite any reasons for his optimism but said the Trump administration had made strides in streamlining Social Security operations.
“You will always fix the operations of business to actually understand what the financial outcome for the business is, and we’re still in the midst of fixing it,” he said. “I think the work we’re doing is making a huge difference now.”
Those statements are in contrast to recent findings that show the program and its 70 million recipients face losing up to 26% of benefits—roughly $550 a month—by late 2032 when reserves for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund are set to be depleted.
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One-in-five Americans—63 million in total—would be affected if Social Security’s retirement program faced a 26% cut today.
The bulk of the money for Social Security is funded through dedicated payroll taxes and taxes on benefits and any shortfall is covered by its existing trust funds. By law, Social Security can’t pay out more in benefits than it receives in revenue, so once the trust fund is gone, cuts will follow.
However, for the past 16 years, Social Security has paid out more than it has taken in, forcing it to dip into trust fund reserves to cover benefits.
Experts said covering the shortfall would require an immediate increase of 3.65 percentage points in the combined employee/employer payroll tax rate, bringing it to a total of 16.05%.
Photo caption: Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano (Social Security Administration/Facebook)
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