Home >> News
REPORT CONFIRMS THAT PRESIDENT BUSH WILL SLASH SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY BENEFITS
5/31/2005
Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today called on
the Bush Administration to ensure that American with disabilities will
be entitled to the same reliable benefits that current beneficiaries
receive. “President Bush says that he has no current plans to cut
disability benefits. Unfortunately, the president’s Social Security
privatization plan points to substantially decreasing this much-needed
support,” Harkin said. “Before Congress can begin to consider Social
Security reform, it is essential to know with certainty how people with
disabilities will be affected.”
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report found that
the Bush Administration’s privatization proposal would reduce benefits
for average earners. This reduction would apply equally to retirees,
survivors, and people with disabilities. President Bush has proposed to
privatize Social Security which would drive up the debt at $5 trillion
and put Social Security at risk. In addition to privatization, the
President has proposed changing the Social Security benefit structure
through “progressive price indexing” which Social Security
Administration’s actuaries have said would reduce benefits for average
earners by approximately one-third. If disability benefits are not cut,
retirement benefits for middle-class workers will be slashed even more
deeply than the figures cited above.
“Three in ten currently healthy twenty-year olds will become
disabled at some point in their lives and, as a result, will require
financial assistance to survive. The majority of these workers will not
have worked long enough to have accumulated enough money in private
accounts to meet even their most basic needs,” Harkin said. “The
American people need to see a plan that confirms the President will not
cut these needed benefits.”
Social Security is critical for the 6.2 million Americans that
receive disability benefits. For many, it is their sole source of
income for necessities such as prescription drugs, groceries, and
housing. Equally important, people with disabilities rely on all facets
of Social Security, including Retirement Insurance when they age out of
SSDI, benefits from their parents who have reached retirement age, and
Survivor’s Insurance. All the while, Social Security has been able to
provide this support at a relatively low cost.
The report also
points out that Americans with disabilities could face further cuts
when they reach retirement age. Currently, those receiving disability
benefits are automatically converted to retirement benefits when they
reach retirement age. Since retirement benefits would be cut under the
proposal, people with disabilities would see their benefits reduced at
that time.
In April, Harkin and eighteen other Senators wrote
to President Bush asking him to make clear that the administration will
protect disability insurance for the millions of disabled Americans,
and that workers who become disabled in the future, and families
eligible for survivor benefits, will be entitled to the same reliable
benefits that current beneficiaries receive.