Social Security Bulletin Released

The Social Security Administration has released the most recent issue of the Social Security Bulletin, a magazine featuring basic Social Security statistics and historical and statistical articles.

Presidential Candidates On Social Security -- Republicans

Here are the views of the top tier Republican candidates for President, as gleaned from various websites:

Rudolph Giuliani

Giuliani agreed that long-term costs and solvency are an issue and that private accounts should be part of the solution, adding that "people should have some choice" in how their accounts are handled.

John McCain:

...supports giving workers the option to set aside a small fraction of their Social Security contributions to be conservatively invested in retirement funds. These accounts would not be so large that they overshadow the existing system, nor would it threaten promised benefits in any way. They would simply supplement the design of the current system to give younger workers greater retirement security. Most importantly, they would act as a lock box to protect the Social Security surpluses Congress raids every year

Mitt Romney

Romney won’t propose changes in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — the government entitlement programs that are growing at unsustainable rates — but instead will press for all sides to come to the bargaining table ...

The Big Picture -- A Credit Union Adjusts To a Downsized Social Security Administration

Sometimes you have to step back quite a way to see the big picture. There used to be an entity called the Social Security Baltimore Federal Credit Union. The winwin partnership reports that they are now called the Securityplus Federal Credit Union. The credit union had to change because the Social Security Administration's employment in the Baltimore area dropped over the last 15 years from 30,000 to less than 15,000. Because of the erosion in their customer base, the Securityplus Federal Credit Union has shifted its focus as well as its name. In addition to serving Social Security employees and retirees, the credit union now tries to serve underserved, presumably low income, areas in the Baltimore region. As a result, their business is growing.

Presidential Candidates On Social Security -- Democrats

Here are what the top tier Democratic candidates for President have said recently about Social Security, drawn from their campaign websites and senatoral websites:

Hillary Clinton:

I think it is essential that the Administration and Congress take the necessary steps to secure the solvency of this important program for current and future retirees. ... There are several key reasons why replacing Social Security with a privatized system would be harmful for Americans.

John Edwards:

I oppose diverting payroll taxes to private accounts but support offering matching accounts to workers on top of Social Security. I oppose raising the retirement age or cutting COLAs.

Barack Obama:

We need to modernize our social safety net to help senior citizens meet these new challenges, but we also must preserve those elements, such as Social Security and Medicare, that have enabled us to fulfill our moral commitment to our parents and grandparents.

House Ways And Means Committee On Backlogs And Budget

The House Ways and Means Committee has prepared a summary of information about the disability claims backlogs at Social Security which discusses Social Security's budget situation for fiscal year (FY) 2008, which begins on October 1, 2007.

Widows Not Getting All The Social Security They Should

Some excerpts from a report of Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

Some individuals are dually entitled to both disability benefits based on their own earnings history and widow's benefits based on their deceased spouses' earnings. Although disability benefits are generally not reduced based on the age of the beneficiary, widow's benefits are reduced when beneficiaries elect to receive them prior to their FRA [Full Retirement Age. However, if the widow's benefit started when the disability benefit began or later, the widow's benefits are adjusted-and the reduction for age is eliminated-when disability ends and retirement benefits are awarded. Usually, this occurs when the beneficiaries attain FRA. In December 2005, about 3.6 million beneficiaries were dually entitled to both retirement benefits and widow's benefits. ...

n November 2006, an SSA employee informed us of a population of 10,210 widows whose benefits appeared to not have been properly adjusted when they attained FRA. ...

We found that the benefits to most of the widows in our population were not properly adjusted when the beneficiaries attained FRA. As a result, the widows were not paid all of the benefits that were due them. Based on the results of our sample, we estimate that about 9,751 beneficiaries were underpaid approximately $113.7 million through November 2006. In addition, if SSA does not take action to correct the benefits paid to these widows, we estimate they will continue to be underpaid about $137.8 million over the rest of their lives.

Witness List For Wednesday Senate Finance Committee Hearing

Senate Finance Committee Hearing May 23 at 10:00

Funding Social Security's Administrative Costs: Will the Budget Meet the Mission?

• Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner, Social Security Administration, Baltimore, MD
• Nancy Shor, Executive Director, National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
• Richard E. Warsinskey, President, National Council of Social Security Management Associations, Inc., Washington, DC
• Charles Schimmels, President, National Association of Disability Examiners, Oklahoma City, OK

An Image From 1965