Terry Everett, March 14, 2005

Last Thursday, President George Bush took his message of saving Social Security to the campus of Auburn University in Montgomery. Before an audience of approximately 4,000, he laid out the case that Social Security will soon be in trouble and something must be done to protect it for future generations of seniors.

Alabamians, and Americans in general, are divided over the issue of Social Security reform. But there should be no mistake that Social Security is a crisis in the making if no action is taken to safeguard the program. That point is not political hype or partisanship - it is a fact.

Here is the reality. Under the current system of Social Security, workers' payroll taxes are immediately used to pay benefits for today's retirees. This "pay-as-you-go" system works when many more people are paying in than are collecting the benefits. Taking the 1950's as an example, 16 workers were paying into the system for each Social Security recipient. That was a healthy proportion of donors to receivers which made the system work.

Now fast forward to 2005. Not only are today's seniors living longer than they did 50 years ago and thus collecting more benefits, but they are being "supported" by far fewer workers. Right now, only three workers are contributing toward Social Security through payroll taxes for each beneficiary. With the number of retirees rapidly outpacing the number of American workers, it has been estimated that the support ratio will drop to two-to-one within 20 years. At that point, the Social Security engine begins to overheat.

As soon as 2008, the first of the Baby Boomer generation will join the ranks of America's seniors and begin collecting Social Security. Ten years later (by 2018) the small Social Security surplus will be eaten up and the program will go into deficit spending (paying out more than it takes in). As the Federal red ink quickly grows, it is projected that by 2042 - a short 37 years from now - Social Security will be in such bad shape that the only way to keep it going will be to either cut benefits by 25 percent or raise the payroll tax by one-third - choices no one wants to face.

So what do we do? The President is calling for a national debate on how to address the looming Social Security crisis in hopes that the people and Congress will come to an agreement in time to fix the ailing program. He has already suggested the idea of allowing young people (those born after 1950) the option of putting a portion of their Social Security contributions into a personal investment account. This idea has drawn heavy fire from opponents of reform who, in turn, have offered no plan of their own. This includes some institution pension fund investors who would prefer that people not handle their own investment accounts.

While everyone has a right to weigh in on this critical debate, it is absolutely irresponsible to simply ignore the Social Security crisis and pretend that it does not exist as many Democrats are doing right now. Rather than working together to save Social Security, apparently they would rather see the program collapse of its own weight than risk the perception of losing a political battle. This is not leadership. Fixing Social Security must be a bipartisan effort.

President Bush made clear in Montgomery last week that today's seniors should have no fear about their benefits. They will continue to receive their checks. For tomorrow's seniors, we must work together to forge a plan that will protect their right to receive benefits just as their parents and grandparents before them. To do anything less is a betrayal of our seniors.

I look forward to serious efforts in Congress to protect and preserve Social Security for future generations. All ideas are on the table.

Congressman Terry Everett, a Republican, represents Alabama's Second Congressional District, which includes the state capitol, Montgomery.