[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 8, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: February 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Bachus] is recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. BACHUS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, there is a cancer eating away
at our Nation's Social Security trust funds. The cancer is rapidly
growing out of control, and unless this Congress acts, it threatens the
future financial security and livelihoods of not only our senior
citizens but each and every one of us.
The cancer I am referring to is the impending insolvency of the
Social Security disability insurance trust fund. This fund has been
depleted, and some experts predict it will be completely insolvent by
mid-1995. My preliminary findings lead me to conclude that the
impending insolvency will occur even earlier. Because disability claims
are increasing at a faster rate than anyone predicted, I believe the
Social Security disability trust fund will be bankrupt by the end of
this year--1994.
The question you may be asking is why have not we heard anything
about this? Last year, when some in Congress realized that the
disability trust fund was in trouble, the Social Security
Administration and others proposed what some considered the easy
solution: simply take money out of Social Security's old-age and
survivors trust fund [OASI]. I say that taking money out of this trust
fund and away from our senior citizens and every working American is no
solution. Certainly an unacceptable solution.
We cannot condone or allow a raid on the Social Security old-age and
survivors trust fund and, at the same time, expect to keep that fund
solvent for our children or even our own generation.
Millions of senior citizens, my parents among them, depend on their
monthly Social Security checks. They paid into the fund while they were
working, and they have a right to expect that what they contributed
will be returned to them in their retirement years.
In the early 1980's, the American public was told that the Social
Security trust funds were fixed. During the debate over the Social
Security Amendment of 1983, Ways and Means Chairman, Dan Rostenkowski
told this body, and I quote, ``Those expecting to receive benefits in
the next century would be assured that the system is solvent.'' But
since Mr. Rostenkowski made that promise on March 9, 1983, rapidly
expanding disability insurance payments have been threatening the
future of our senior citizens.
Yet, according to the 1993 report of the board of trustees of the
Social Security trust funds, the disability trust fund will be
completely bankrupt by the end of 1995 unless immediate action is taken
to correct the situation.
The 1993 trustees' report shows that the fund will have used its
entire accumulated balance and will be $1.6 billion short of the amount
required to pay benefits by the end of 1995. In other words, by late
August 1995--or if my prediction is correct, before the end of this
year--the disability trust fund will be unable to send out benefit
checks unless some action is taken to provide additional funds.
This is a problem of enormous proportions. According to the
actuaries, $105 billion will be required to resolve this problem for
just the next 8 years. This is more than has been spent on the savings
and loan bailout.
Even more disturbing is the fact that the actuaries who prepared this
report used intermediate level estimates to project this outcome. If
they had used worst case estimates--which, unfortunately, have proven
to be more accurate in the past, the numbers would have been even
worse.
In my research, I found many startling things. First, once people go
on the disability rolls, they may be reexamined, but almost invariably,
they remain there until they reach retirement age. That means that they
will never return to work, even if rehabilitation and medical recovery
later makes working possible.
According to Dr. Carolyn Weaver, the Director of the Social Security
and pension project at the American Enterprise Institute, the
proportion of new beneficiaries under 40 years of age jumped from 18
percent to 28 percent, between 1980 and 1990--over a 50-percent
increase.
Dr. Weaver also reports that the proportion of people awarded
benefits based on mental disorders increased from 11 percent to 22
percent between 1980 and 1990 alone. Among workers under 35, the
proportion rose from 32 percent to 46 percent--almost half. And
furthermore, these people are likely to stay on the rolls longer than
those in any other major diagnosis group.
We also have a serious problem with the growing number of disability
claims and the way we process them. Throwing more money at the problem
is not going to make it go away.
Last year, the Ways and Means Committee heard testimony from the
Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration on the
severity of the problem and its implications for the future. The
response of Social Security, the Ways and Means Committee, and this
House was to propose taking money out of the old-age and survivors fund
to bail out the disability fund. The Senate later stripped this
provision. The problem, unresolved, continues to worsen.
The Clinton administration and the current Commissioner of the Social
Security Administration seem to be on the same course this year.
Yesterday's budget, again calls for diverting funds from the retirement
fund to the disability fund. This may be the easiest solution, but it
is really nothing more than a stop gap solution, consisting of a raid
on the retirement funds of every working American.
Shifting funds from the old-age and survivors fund to the disability
fund has been done before. But, this time, the problem is much worse
than it has been in the past. We are talking about $105 billion over
the next 8 years. This is a massive amount of money, and the magnitude
of this problem poses a significant threat to the Social Security trust
fund and our senior citizens.
If we continue on this course, we are going to bankrupt the fund that
insures the financial security of our seniors in their retirement
years. That is wrong.
Shifting funds from one fund to the other is not an acceptable
solution. It does nothing to address the real problem which is a
disability claims process that is out of control.
Madam Speaker, I first became aware of this problem through casework
in my district. Last January, my office began receiving numerous
complaints about the length of time required to resolve Social Security
disability claims on appeal, so I decided to investigate the situation.
I discovered that the average wait, from the time a disability claim
is filed until benefits are awarded, is 18 months. One of the factors
contributing to this problem is the dramatic increase of disability
claims.
The preliminary solution offered by HHS to relieve the backlog in my
congressional district was to hire additional employees. I was pleased
at first, but when I realized that the same thing was happening across
the country, I became concerned that there might not be enough money
available to pay for the rapid influx of new claims. As a result, I
began to study the Social Security disability trust fund and its
financial security.
I am convinced that more personnel and more money are not the answer
to this problem. We need a complete reevaluation of the criteria used
to determine whether a person is truly disabled, and we need a clearly
defined method of reexamination that will allow us to remove people who
are no longer disabled from the rolls and get them back to work.
Right now, the system is not working. We need to change the
procedures and redefine the role and mission of our disability system.
The Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA] was passed with the promise
of eliminating barriers and creating employment opportunities for the
disabled. It also had a very high price tag. We ought to be able to use
the Americans With Disabilities Act to place more disabled workers in
real jobs. Additionally, we ought to be able to take advantage of
medical advances and rehabilitation in order to increase the
opportunities for disabled citizens to reenter the work force and at
the same time, reduce the number of disability insurance payments.
Madam Speaker, I am calling on the President, and I call on my
colleagues today, to consider this problem carefully. We must act now.
The reality of this situation is that the disability insurance fund
is going to run out of money and soon. My question is why can not we
address this problem now and avoid the crisis atmosphere of a last-
ditch effort to bail out the program later?
Last week, we approved emergency supplemental appropriations for
earthquake assistance. This natural disaster happened suddenly and
without warning. But I would ask my colleagues today: Must we wait for
the ground to move from under the Social Security disability trust fund
before we act?
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this
resolution which would require the Department of Health and Human
Services to thoroughly examine and confront this threat and report back
to Congress with honest solutions, so that we can act in an orderly and
timely manner.
My bill states that neither taking money from the Federal old-age and
survivors insurance trust fund nor taking money from the general fund
of the Treasury, thereby adding to the deficit is an acceptable
solution.
Madam Speaker and my colleagues, it is time for action. It is time to
be honest and deal fairly with the American people. We cannot continue
to play with the numbers and expect this problem to go away.
[Excerpt from 1995 Budget]
Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security
FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND
[Status of Funds in thousands of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1993 1994 1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Security tax rate
reallocation............... 0 (11,942,000) (16,114,000)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL DISABILITY INSURANCE TRUST FUND
[Status of Funds in thousands of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1993
actual 1994 est. 1995 est.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Security tax
reallocation............... 0 11,942,000 16,114,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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