The Washington Report

June 6, 2018

Executive/Legislative

Senate Cancels Three Weeks of August Recess

On June 5, 2018, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he canceled three weeks of the chamber's upcoming August recess. He stated that senators will spend the time working to approve nominees and spending bills. According to the statement, the Senate is still expected to have a one-week recess the first week of August.

Senator McConnell’s statement is available here.

Health

Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees Release Annual Reports

On June 5, 2018, the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees issued their annual financial review of the programs. The projections indicate that income is sufficient to pay full scheduled benefits until 2026 for Medicare’s Hospital Insurance program, until 2032 for Social Security’s Disability Insurance program, and until 2034 for Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance program. The Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund remains adequately financed throughout the projection period, but only because SMI has unlimited access to general revenues.

The Trustees project that Medicare costs will grow from approximately 3.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 to 5.8% of GDP by 2038, and will increase gradually thereafter to about 6.2% of GDP by 2092. The costs of the Social Security program equaled 4.9% of GDP in 2017 and are expected to rise to 6.1% of GDP by 2038, decline to 5.9% of GDP by 2052, and then rise slowly to 6.1% of GDP by 2092.

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report Fact Sheet is available here.

The Social Security report is available here.

The Medicare report is available here.

Retirement

PBGC Releases FY 2017 Projections Report

On May 31, 2018, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Projections Report, an annual actuarial evaluation forecasting the future financial condition of PBGC’s two separate programs (Single Employer and Multiemployer). According to the PBGC, the new projections are broadly consistent with last year’s projections and indicate that, absent changes in law or additional resources, PBGC’s Multiemployer Program is highly likely to become insolvent by the end of FY 2025, and that, while there remain significant risks, PBGC’s Single Employer Program is likely to emerge from deficit sooner than previously anticipated.

The PBGC FY 2017 Projections Report is available here.

The PBGC news release is available here.