At a Virginia coffee shop the other week, Vice President Joe Biden
served up his customary blend of bold political overstatement and,
perhaps, a preview of where the campaign is heading.
"I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security," Biden told the diners, most of them 60+, according to a White House reporting pool account.
The statement was remarkable because of the potential credit downgrades facing the U.S. next year and because it put Biden out on a limb that few outside the far left have been willing to go.
In April, Social Security Administration actuaries projected that the program's disability insurance trust fund would dry up in 2016. That would trigger an immediate 19% cut in disability benefits without any change to current Social Security law.
At the time, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue called the need for legislative action to make program finances sustainable "more critical than ever."
The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said, "The sooner policymakers act, the more fairly they can spread out the needed adjustments in revenue and benefit formulas."
Read more: http://news.investors.com/090512-624695-biden-guarantee-on-social-security-even-worries-left.aspx?src=HPLNews
"I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security," Biden told the diners, most of them 60+, according to a White House reporting pool account.
The statement was remarkable because of the potential credit downgrades facing the U.S. next year and because it put Biden out on a limb that few outside the far left have been willing to go.
In April, Social Security Administration actuaries projected that the program's disability insurance trust fund would dry up in 2016. That would trigger an immediate 19% cut in disability benefits without any change to current Social Security law.
At the time, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue called the need for legislative action to make program finances sustainable "more critical than ever."
The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said, "The sooner policymakers act, the more fairly they can spread out the needed adjustments in revenue and benefit formulas."
Read more: http://news.investors.com/090512-624695-biden-guarantee-on-social-security-even-worries-left.aspx?src=HPLNews
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