FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in Chicago. The president and congressional Republicans each seem content with the political ground they hold and are prepared to let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1, unlike during earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship that saw last minute frantic dealmaking. This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a US. default to force the two sides to compromise, no government shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline to prevent a tax increase for every working American. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Top Senate Democrat proposes Social Security panel

Published: 03:07:32 PM, Wed 20 March 2013 UTC

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate's No. 2 Democrat said Wednesday that he's preparing a plan to create a commission to study Social Security's fiscal problems and send a proposed solution to Congress for guaranteed votes in both House and Senate.

Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin says he's got bipartisan backing for the idea, which is patterned after President Barack Obama's 2010 deficit commission.

Social Security currently is spending more than it takes in in payroll taxes and relies on savings from previous surpluses to pay benefits. Those savings are estimated to run out in 20 years.

Durbin wants the commission to make recommendations to make Social Security solvent for 75 years. The panel would be expected to consider increases in the payroll tax, a higher retirement age and a lower annual cost-of-living adjustment for beneficiaries.

"You would basically say to a commission, within a very limited time frame, to come up with a proposal for 75-year solvency of Social Security and then — and this is important — it would be referred to both chambers on an expedited procedure," Durbin told reporters at a Washington breakfast sponsored by The Wall Street Journal.

"I'd like to get it done. I've proposed that to a number of people and they've been receptive to it on both sides of the aisle. I think we can move forward with it," Durbin added.

The commission would resemble the 2010 deficit panel chaired by former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and retired Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo. That panel failed to produce the supermajority vote required to officially present a plan to Congress but has attracted praise from deficit hawks for its sweeping recommendations.

Durbin's proposed 18-member commission would contain an equal number of Republicans and Democrats but require 14 votes to send a plan to Congress.

Tags: ap, george w. bush, bill clinton, ronald reagan, democratic party, social security, united states senate, culture_politics, fiscal problems, president of the united states, illinois, benefits, plan, idea, no., savings, president barack obama, barack obama, congress, washington, house, payroll taxes, payroll tax, solution, annual cost-of-living adjustment, increases, senate democrat, deficit commission, bipartisan backing, higher retirement age, democrat dick durbin, social security panel, guaranteed votes, prior-year surpluses

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