Federal disability trust fund on the brink

Uh-oh! That's bad news for SSDI recipients. So Congress must do something about it.

The Social Security actuaries have calculated two ways to shore up the disability program. The simplest solution -- and one lawmakers have agreed to in the past -- is to divert more of the Social Security payroll tax to the disability program and away from the retirement system.

Here's how it would work.

Currently, the combined rate paid by employers and workers is 12.4%. The disability program's rate is 1.8%, while the retirement system's rate is 10.6%. Congress could authorize increasing the share going toward disability payments to 2.6% for two years and then slowly cut it back to 1.8% by 2030. This would keep the disability fund solvent until 2033, but it would shorten the retirement system's predicted lifespan by two years due to lower payroll tax revenue.
The other approach, which is more controversial, would be to raise the disability portion paid by workers and employers by 0.2% each. That would keep the program solvent for 75 years. But there's little appetite among lawmakers to raise taxes these days.
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There is no such thing as an idiot proof law.

People in congress can't even spell the words balanced and budget.
 
The congress will usually fix at last minute.
 
They didn't fix the last time, we went though Fiscal cliff and let squatty budget cuts and increased taxes. Will they really going to fix this coming time? I have doubts.

Foxrac said:
The congress will usually fix at last minute.
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diehardbiker said:
They didn't fix the last time, we went though Fiscal cliff and let squatty budget cuts and increased taxes. Will they really going to fix this coming time? I have doubts.
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The congress had done to fix many other programs at last minute and SSDI is probably most critical that they have to fix, but not in cases for some programs.
 
diehardbiker said:
I thought you said there was a law against that. What happened?
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You didn't read it carefully. They don't cut it because of government budget issues. The article showed that SSDI's trust fund is going to RUN OUT in 2016, thus if the Congress doesn't act, the benefits (SSDI) will be lowered. Congress doesn't cut it because of government financial deficit.
 
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