Social Security Forecast May Spark Fight

[AmyStrange]

Social Security Forecast May Spark Fight
Fri Jun 11, 6:08 PM ET
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

FROM: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040611/ap_on_go_co/social_security&e=4&ncid=703
WASHINGTON - An election-year duel over President Bush (news - web sites)'s proposal to revamp Social Security (news - web sites) could flare up again Monday with a congressional report that says the giant pension program's long-term prospects may be better than previously thought.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) will say that over the long run, Social Security remains unsustainable at the current levels of benefits and payroll taxes that finance the system, said Capitol Hill aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Yet the report is expected to project that the system's shortfall over the next 75 years will be only about two-thirds the $3.7 trillion estimated last March by the bipartisan trustees who oversee Social Security, the aides said Friday. The discrepancies are due to differing economic and other assumptions, they said.

This means Social Security's 2042 insolvency, as projected by the trustees, would occur about a decade later, the aides said. The aides differed, however, about whether the budget office report would predict a later insolvency date or whether the data would simply support that conclusion.

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