On the recordFebruary 10, 2015
I rise to speak about the impending exhaustion of the disability trust fund administered by the Social Security Administration. The Social Security system contains two important programs. One is the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance--or OASI--Program, often referred to as the retirement program. That program provides income to insured workers and their families at retirement or death, based on their payroll tax contributions to the OASI trust fund. The other is the disability insurance--or DI--program, which provides income to insured workers who suffer from a disabling condition, based on their payroll tax contributions to the DI trust fund. Unfortunately, both trust funds face trillions of dollars in unfunded obligations. Each trust fund is legally distinct, although they have been commingled in the past into an imaginary fund labeled the ``OASDI trust fund'' or mingled with the General Fund. Reserves in the DI trust fund are projected to be exhausted sometime late in calendar year 2016, after which beneficiaries face benefit cuts of around 20 percent. The DI program alone faces unfunded obligations over the next 75 years of more than $1.2 trillion. Reserves in the OASI trust fund are projected to be exhausted in 2034, after which retirees and their survivors face benefit cuts of around 25 percent. The retirement program alone faces unfunded obligations of around $9.4 trillion over the next 75 years.…
