Social Security Head Sees Shortfall in Disability Fund
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WASHINGTON — The Social Security fund that pays monthly disability checks to more than 4.3 million Americans will run out of money within five years unless new financing is found, Commissioner Gwendolyn S. King said Monday.
However, King and other experts stressed in testimony before a Senate Finance subcommittee that the much larger Social Security retirement fund is not in trouble.
“The public should not be given the impression that their Social Security benefits are in any danger,” she said. “There is no state of emergency.”
The Bush Administration will review the disability fund before making a recommendation late this year for boosting its finances, King said.
But Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) chairman of the Social Security subcommittee, and other witnesses at a hearing said most of the problem could be solved simply by earmarking slightly more of the Social Security payroll tax to the disability fund.
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