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The debate over reforming SSD benefits begins

On Behalf of | Feb 4, 2015 | Social Security Disability Benefits

The newly-elected members of the U.S. Congress have no doubt settled in a bit by now, and the members who were re-elected and have claimed their leadership posts are beginning to roll out ideas on many of the issues facing America. One of the most important issues for many of our Los Angeles readers is probably the debate over what to do about the Social Security Disability fund.

For those who don’t know, the Social Security percentage that comes out of workers’ paychecks each month actually gets split up – almost all of it goes toward funding Social Security retirement benefits, but about one-sixth of it goes toward funding SSD benefits. The problem, according to many in our nation’s capital, is that the funds available to continue making SSD benefits payments are beginning to run low.

As a result, many of our leaders are beginning to talk about how to address this issue. For years the most common answer was to transfer funds from the retirement portion of the Social Security trust funds over to the disability portion to make ends meet. But, as we pointed out in an earlier post, the House of Representatives passed a rule change last month that would prevent this type of financial maneuvering.

According to recent reports, however, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus among Republicans and Democrats on the best way to shore up the Social Security Disability fund yet. But the issue is a pressing one, and eventually some form of action will likely take place.

Source: The Hill, “Congress torn over depleted disability fund,” Rebecca Shabad, Jan. 25, 2015

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