The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing on the 2012 Annual Report from the Board of Trustees, focused on spending and revenue for the social insurance program.
The committee investigated "the effect of the trust funds' current cash flow deficit status and future exhaustion, and the cost of delaying actions to address Social Security's fiscal challenges for workers and beneficiaries."
The Board of Trustees, created under the original social security legislation, oversees the trust funds that operate under the old-age and survivors insurance (OASI) and disability insurance (DI) programs. The Act requires the board to produce annual reports on the health of the funds.
The report states:
“Under the long-range intermediate assumptions, annual cost for the OASDI program is projected to exceed non-interest income in 2012 and remain higher through the remainder of the long-range period. The combined OASI and DI Trust Funds are expected to increase through 2020, and then to decline and become exhausted and unable to pay scheduled benefits in full on a timely basis in 2033. However, the DI Trust Fund becomes exhausted in 2016, so legislative action is needed as soon as possible.”
Charles P. Blahous III and Robert D. Reischauer, Public Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees testified.