Recently officials of the American Association for Retired Persons came together to discuss the current politics and struggles surrounding social security, its funding and its future.
Officials report the Social Security administration has hit a 50-year low in staffing with only 50,000 employees on payroll. This has caused concern for some as they worry if Social Security can adequately support citizens with such low staff and potential budget cuts.
Bill Sweeney is Senior Vice President at the AARP. He said funding and the regulation of Social Security is dictated by congress.
“Congress actually restricts how much money Social Security can spend on customer service every year. We have been urging Congress to lift those caps so that social security can spend the money you’ve paid in. Make sure that they can spend in a way that’s reasonable and can make sure there are enough staff that trained that can answer your calls when you need them,” said Sweeney.
Frank Bisignano, CEO of Fiserv, was recently appointed by President Trump to serve as commissioner of Social Security but has not yet been approved by congress.
Officials said Social Security has never missed payment in its 90 years of existence and is currently funded to at least 2035.
Sweeney said it’s critical to choose the right time to claim Social Security benefits.
“When to claim Social Security retirement benefits is an incredibly important decision. It basically is one that you can’t take back. If you take it back, you have to pay back all the money that you got which is unrealistic for some people. So, when you claim is really, really, important and it’s a decision that you should make very carefully,” said Sweeney.
He added the decision should be based on the age, financial and family situations of the claimer.
Sweeney said privatization of Social Security is unlikely as it was shut down when proposed in the 1980’s. He said it’d be unwise to connect retirement funds to the stock market because the stock market is always changing.
He added that AARP is planning to do a 90-day coast to coast campaign effort in order to highlight the importance of Social Security to legislators.