Liberals vow to fight Social Security cut

WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Some U.S. liberals call President Barack Obama's fiscal commission a bigger threat to Social Security than past efforts to privatize the system.

Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works, a coalition of liberal and senior groups, told The Hill Obama's commission has done much of its work behind closed doors, in contrast with former President George W. Bush's failed bid to privatize the system, sunk five years ago after considerable public debate.

"The American people wound up rejecting (Bush's plan) but it was democracy at work. He was putting his proposal out there and the Democrats were solidly against it, as was most of the country," Altman told the Washington publication. "The problem here is … that if something is done, it will be by stealth."

The White House fiscal commission, created to deal with the country's $13 trillion debt, plans to make fiscal policy recommendations in December. House and Senate leaders say they'll call floor votes on recommendations backed by 14 of the commission's 18 members.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, have recently suggested increasing the retirement age could help preserve Social Security. Both have also broached tying Social Security benefits to income levels and inflation.

Altman said those moves would lead to lower Social Security payments for seniors and urged new taxes to offset any shortfalls in the program.

At a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on Social Security, Altman called on lawmakers to introduce the fiscal commission's proposals through the committee process, as Bush's package had been, rather than sending legislation directly to floor votes.

The Congressional Budget Office in March estimated Social Security payments will exceed revenue the program takes in through payroll taxes for the first time this year, The Hill said. The program has $2.5 trillion in surplus funds, enough to pay full benefits through 2037, because Congress raised payroll taxes in the mid-1980s to prepare for the mass retirement of baby boomers.