Byron Dorgan: “the Board of Trustees for the Social Security Trust Fund issued its annual report in March describing the financial…”

“the Board of Trustees for the Social Security Trust Fund issued its annual report in March describing the financial health of the Trust Fund and its outlook for the future. The report shows that the financial condition of the Trust Fund over the next few decades has improved somewhat since last year, that is, the Social Security program is now expected to remain solvent for three additional years through 2041. This is welcome news for the tens of millions of baby boomers who will depend on this program in the coming decades. However, this latest Trustees' report also makes clear that the Social Security program still faces significant long-term financial challenges. This finding was not unexpected. In fact, there is already bipartisan agreement in Congress that we will need to make some careful changes to the Social Security system in order to guarantee the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund beyond 2041. Today, Senator Corzine of New Jersey and I are introducing legislation that we think should be part of those reform discussions. Our legislation, called the Social Security Plus Account Act, builds upon two fundamental principles: One, the underlying guaranteed defined benefit approach of the current Social Security program should not be scrapped or weakened. Social Security has become the foundation of the Nation's retirement system, something that people can always count on.…”