They say all is fair in love and war. The same apparently goes for the politics of taxes and the nation's entitlement systems for retired Americans. As with any legislative proposal, it's normal for public policymaking to fall under the political microscope, dissected by liberal, conservative and regional points of view. But too often, the art of debate turns into not-so-subtle demagoguery when Washington gets its hands on it.
Easy rhetorical messages about tax relief usually pit the "rich" against middle- and low-income American families. In this picture, the wealthy don't deserve a tax cut and success is somehow demonized for political purposes. But the congressional critics of President Bush's tax relief plan aren't stopping with class warfare. They are circling the wagons around what's been called the third rail of the American political system, Social Security. And they're adding Medicare to the mix for good measure. If you watch and listen closely to their arguments, it's clear they are looking to use these two popular retirement programs for political cover.
Predictably, the big spenders in Congress are reluctant to trim tax revenue because it affects what's available to pay for new government spending. But it's wrong to mislead Americans into believing that we can't provide substantial tax relief for hard-working families and at the same time protect Medicare and Social Security.
Over the next 10 years, the federal government is estimated to collect $27.9 trillion dollars. The president proposes to trim just $1.6 trillion of this and return it to the taxpayers. To compare, at least $3.8 trillion will be spent on Medicare in the coming decade.
This year Congress has a real opportunity to modernize Medicare, provide an affordable prescription drug benefit, and put the program on a sound financial footing for 21st century beneficiaries. We should avoid irresponsible proposals that lock away Medicare dollars and make them unavailable for improvements to Medicare.
In my book, honesty is the best policy. And it's time to be honest about Medicare's financial condition. The same goes for Social Security. Ensuring the financial viability of Medicare and Social Security is one of Congress' most important responsibilities. In April, I will co-chair a joint congressional hearing to examine the annual non-partisan audit about the financial well-being of these two retirement programs. The Board of Trustees was established under the Social Security Act to oversee the financial operations of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) trust funds.
The release of the 2001 annual report on Medicare Part A, the hospital insurance trust fund, will provide a timely snapshot of the program's fiscal health. These findings will establish the financial parameters against which Medicare modernization plans will be evaluated. The same goes for Social Security.
In their last annual report, the trustees projected that the Social Security trust funds would begin running cash flow deficits in 2015 and would become insolvent in 2037. In that year, annual payroll taxes would be sufficient to pay 72 percent of promised benefits. The updated information will provide invaluable support to the president's proposed commission on Social Security and the responsible committees in Congress as proposals are considered to fix Social Security for current and future retirees.
The president's critics want to use Social Security and Medicare as an excuse to seal off the federal surplus from tax relief. While their intent is to spoil efforts to give all American taxpayers a meaningful refund, I hope their misleading charges won't poison the waters for structural improvements to these two retirement programs. That's when politicking gets in the way of policymaking.