Here's What Should Really Scare Lawmakers About Social Security: GOP Senator

What You Need to Know

The big fear around Social Security in Washington should be allowing the trust fund to go broke, Sen. Bill Cassidy suggests.
He and other senators are proposing an investment fund to shore up the system.
Social Security advocates say their plan will result in benefit cuts.

Social Security reform has long been called the third rail of American politics — a dangerous issue for politicians to touch.

But with depletion of the trust fund roughly 10 years away, can we fix the system?

Jason Fichtner, chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center, asked this question of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Tuesday during a video conversation.

“Yes, of course we can,” Cassidy, ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, responded. “But we have to redefine what the third rail is.”

He suggested that the leading presidential candidates were afraid to touch the program when what they should be afraid of was “a 24% decrease [in benefits] — without a borrowing capacity to address it.”

Such a benefit cut will result if the trust fund goes bust, which is projected to happen in 2033 if Congress doesn’t act, according to the Social Security board of trustees.

Cassidy continued: “If that 24% decrease goes into effect, it’ll double the rate of poverty among the elderly. That should be the third rail; the conversation has to change to that.”

That’s part of the answer, Cassidy continued, noting that another potential remedy is his plan to create an investment fund, “not using any Social Security funds at all,” that accrues returns over 70 years. “We would end up with a enough [funds] to address 75% of the 75-year shortfall” as laid out by the Social Security Administration.