In this Feb. 11, 2005 file photo, trays of printed social security checks wait to be mailed from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Management services facility in Philadelphia. The financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Social Security and Medicare is front and center as the government releases its annual report on the state of the bedrock retirement programs on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Bradley C. Bower, File)
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Martin Crutsinger
Social Security and Medicare, the government’s two biggest benefit programs, remain under intense financial pressure with the retirement of millions of baby boomers and a devastating pandemic putting increased pressures on the two programs’ finances.
A report from the programs’ trustees released Tuesday moved up by one year the date for the depletion of Social Security’s reserves, now projecting that Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2034 instead of 2035.
Medicare is still expected to exhaust its reserves in 2026, the same date as estimated last year.
“The finances of both programs have been significantly affected by the pandemic and the recession of 2020,” the trustees said.
The report noted that employment, earnings, interest rates, and economic growth plummeted in the second quarter of 2020 after the pandemic hit the United States.
The report said that “given the unprecedented level of uncertainty” there was no consensus on what the long-lasting effects of the pandemic will be on the two benefit programs.
When the Social Security trust fund is depleted the government will be able to pay 78% of scheduled benefits, the report said.
The third day of former president Donald Trump's civil fraud trial kicked off earlier Wednesday in New York, a day after a judge imposed a limited gag order on Trump.
The National Zoo's three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to force a vote Tuesday on the far-right effort to oust him from his leadership position and insists he will not cut a deal with Democrats to remain in power, setting the stage for an extraordinary and unpredictable showdown on the House floor.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three federal firearms charges filed after a plea deal imploded, putting the case on track toward a possible trial as the 2024 election looms.
