Senator Lankford Response To Social Security Trustees Annual Report: We Must Reform SSDI Now

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today released the following statement on the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees Annual Report regarding the financial outlook of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).

“The release of the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees Report is yet another warning that now is the time to reform SSDI,” said Lankford. “We cannot continue down a path where we put seniors and disabled Americans at risk of losing their benefits. It’s been suggested that Congress should address SSDI insolvency by reallocating taxes from Old-Age and Survivors Insurance to the Disability Insurance fund; even the Trustees agree we need to address the root of the problem not just shift funds.”

Lankford has been a vocal advocate for reforming SSDI beginning with his time as a Subcommittee Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements.

In the report from the Board of Trustees, they say, “Any necessary resource reallocation that does occur should not be regarded as a substitute for action to sustain the finances of DI and Social Security as a whole, nor enacted in a manner that has the effect of further postponing those required corrections.”

Lankford recently wrote an opinion piece entitled, Social Security Disability Insurance Is a Looming Crisis, which focused on solutions to resolve consistent issues with the program. 

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