This election, trust the candidate that dares to touch Social Security

We’re told every election cycle that this one will be the most consequential of our lifetimes. But for the more than 70 million Americans who rely on Social Security, this election really does matter — because senators elected this November will need to save Social Security before their terms are up. 

For an issue this important, the silence thus far is unnerving.

Every year the Social Security Trustees issue a report warning about the program’s impending fiscal cliff — now slated for 2032, just six years away. Starting in that year, the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted, and annual payroll tax revenue will cover only 78 percent of promised benefits. The Trustees have issued this warning for decades. You would think our elected leaders would have done something by now to avoid the cliff.

Yet, year after year the president and Congress ignore the Trustee’s warning. Why?

The answer is simple, but sad. Our leaders will not lead. For their part, Democrats have largely refused to consider any restraint on the program’s costs. Meanwhile, Republicans have largely refused to consider revenue to cover those costs. With a few exceptions — such as recent stirrings among Republicans suggesting an openness to changing the payroll tax cap — both sides remain opposed to compromise.

In 1983, I was in my first term in Congress — actually in my first weeks on the job........

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