More than ‘tweaks’

Monday, May 24, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

For years, members of Congress have warned about the problem with Social Security. Sooner or later, at the rate it’s going, it will run out of money. A report issued last week by a Senate committee says that day is coming soon as waves of Baby Boomers are starting to retire.

At the current pace of Social Security spending, the program will need to dip into its trust fund in six years because it will pay out more than it brings in. And if nothing is done, the trust fund is expected to be depleted by 2037.

In its report, the Senate Special Committee on Aging offered a list of several ideas to keep Social Security solvent, including increasing employee contributions, lowering cost-of-living increases and raising the retirement age. The committee did not endorse any of the proposals, but Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, said all the program needs are some “modest tweaks.”

Congress, though, will have its hands full even attempting to tweak Social Security. Barbara Kennelly, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told the Associated Press that small changes alone can have large consequences.

“If you raise the retirement age and you don’t do anything about the pension law or anything about retraining — and there’s been no discussion on that — where are the jobs?” said Kennelly, a former member of Congress. “It’s not so simple.”

That’s a fair critique of the complexity of the system, but Congress should be able to handle that. The larger issue is whether lawmakers can muster the political courage to address the problems.

The program has often been called the “third rail” of American politics because lawmakers don’t want to touch it. To change Social Security is to tinker with the retirement of millions of Americans, and thus potentially disastrous for a politician.

Still, it is obvious something needs to be done. Kohl said he hopes the report would be a basis for debate on how to change the program and said he thought Congress could use the list of proposals in the report to come up with a plan. The report is a good start — it is going to the president’s task force on the budget deficit, as well — but it is only a start. As Kohl noted, “Many members of the committee, including myself, do not support and actively oppose many of the options” presented in the report.

Congress has a big job ahead of it, and we don’t expect it to be completed this year. Lawmakers will have to work with the groups involved — seniors, employers and workers — to find areas of agreement. And everyone will have to be ready to make some compromises and give a little. That is the only way the nation will be able to make the changes needed to keep Social Security healthy.