Washington, D.C. – Today, the Ways and Means Committee released bipartisan proposals to strengthen and protect Social Security.  This follows several hearings in the Social Security Subcommittee on bipartisan proposals to secure the future of the program.  The draft legislative text can be found at www.waysandmeans.house.gov/entitlementreform.

The latest legislative proposals mirror those put forth by the Simpson-Bowles Commission and the Domenici-Rivlin Task Force.  The draft specifically focuses on changes to reflect increases in life expectancy, changes to the benefit formula, and benefit increases for long career low lifetime earners – approaches the two groups have previously proposed.

The public is encouraged to submit comments to any of the draft legislative proposals by email at entitlementreform@mail.house.gov by the due date listed for each proposal.  You can view the proposals, fact sheets, summaries and draft legislative text at www.waysandmeans.house.gov/entitlementreform.

Background:
In April, the Ways and Means Committee announced a bipartisan hearing series on entitlement reform.  As part of that series, the Committee is reviewing a variety of proposals to protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security that have been identified by President Obama – either in his budget or in other recommendations to Congress.  The Committee is also reviewing bipartisan ideas for entitlement reform from the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (known as the “Simpson-Bowles Commission”) and the Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force (known as the “Domenici-Rivlin Task Force”).