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Does it take a commission?
May 15th 03:35:17 PM
We already reminded you that President Bush renewed his commitment to Social Security reform during his State of the Union address this year when he called for a new commission to study entitlements. Today, the Concord Coalition hosted a panel discussion on whether such a commission was necessary to solve the crisis.Speakers included Dr. Charles P. Blahous, the Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; Former Representative Charles Stenholm; U.S. Comptroller General David Walker; Stuart Butler of The Heritage Foundation; Maya MacGuineas of the New America Foundation; Joseph Minarik of the Committee For Economic Development; Isabel Sawhill of The Brookings Institution. With experts from such diverse political backgrounds, the surprising conclusion that emerged was that they all agreed "yes, it takes a commission."
As was noted, the first baby boomer will be eligible to retire in just 2 short years, causing the fiscal crisis of entitlement programs to accelerate rapidly beginning in 2008. The panelists argued that a commission is the best way to get politicians to get their heads out of the sand for a few reasons.
- The political climate today has become so polarized, a bipartisan commission could help ease tensions and give politicians cover during the 2006 elections.
- A second-term president who is not facing reelection is in a unique position to tackle politically risky issues suck as entitlement reform.
The panelists also cautioned that the financial crises facing Social Security and Medicare make it critical this commission does not end up having its reccommendations ignored. To ensure a genuine report is issued and followed, a few of the suggestions made were:
- Any and all ideas for reform must be brought to the table.
- Representative from both parties and outside experts must all be involved in the process in order to represent all perspectives.
- The final reccommendations of the commission must call for action--possibly even imposing penalties on Congress for inaction
There was one interesting lesson from history that was left unsaid today, but was pointed out by Dr. Blahous in a lecture at the American Enterprise Institute: all past Social Security reform commissions--even those which broke up without issuing an official report--have all at least agreed on the fact that personal accounts are a viable solution.
So, if there is a commission, it could bode well for both the fiscal policies governing entitlements and personal accounts. As always, we'll keep you posted on what develops.
Posted by Nicola Moore
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