You can bet Congress won’t let the 11 million Americans who receive Social Security disability benefits as will happen if nothing is done because the program is running out of money.
Congress will likely step in at some point, after much wrangling, and shift money from Social Security’s larger retirement fund to prop up the disability program.
But the fact that Congress hasn’t acted up to this point is another reminder of how essential entitlement reform is repeatedly kicked down the road. No one wants to take it on until they absolutely have to. And yet, the longer politicians wait, the tougher the adjustments must be.
The same Associated Press report that recounted the disability program’s woes noted that Social Security’s trustees now say the general retirement fund won’t run short of money until 2035, “a year later than they predicted last year.” But spare the huzzahs. Rather than use this two-decade cushion to enact reforms, our elected leaders very likely will fritter away the years in fear of offending any possible constituency.
After all, that’s been their record up until now.
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