Okay Week for the SenateBy Charlie Stenholm

I congratulate Sen. Jim Demint (R-SC)for continuing to remind his fellow senators that our grandchildren have a problem with their Social Security if our generation doesn't do something to protect them.  I'm espcially proud of Missouri's Senator Claire McCaskill for being one Democrat who gets it.

I'm also pleased that Senators Conrad and Gregg have offered constructive steps (in the form of a BRAC-style bipartisan commission to explore entitlement spending) to help Washington's elected officials realize that maybe the Congress needs help in structuring a long term solution to a very real problem of runaway cost of so called entitlements! Thank you senators.

My Feet are Getting ColdBy James Hamilton

Surely it can't be that Hell is freezing over, but I find myself in agreement with the Institute for Policy Innovation's Larry Hunter in praising Senator Jim DeMint's (R-SC) attempt (and the votes of all but four of his Republican colleagues and one incredibly courageous vote from Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri) to rein in Congress's ability to spend the Social Security trust funds. While the amendment failed yesterday, it sent a strong message to Americans that Congress likes things the way they are.

Great work, Senator DeMint! Go figure, Larry.

Commission GamesBy Lea Abdnor

This week a bipartisan team of Senators and the Senate's Budget Committee voted to establish a proposal for a 16 member bipartisan commission that would examine ways to slow entitlement growth, overhaul tax policy, and address proposals aimed at closing a massive projected unfunded liabilities. The members would be exclusively elected Members of Congress.

Kudos go to Senators Conrad and Gregg for initiating it.   Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the Senate leadership (or the House for that matter) will agree to it and, that falls in the arena of insanity, in my opinion.  We have a tsunami of debt ahead, to use the term of GAO Administrator Walker, but if my information is correct, the commission will be defeated.  And no alternative will be put in it's place.  How can these people call themselves responsible legislators?

No Excuse to Delay ActionBy Tim Penny

At a Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget event last week, it appears that the AARP (among others) is trying to recast the entitlement debate as a debate only about health care. They have a point: the fiscal challenges facing Social Security are dwarfed by the double digit annual growth in Medicare and Medicaid. Most would agree that the solutions to the health care cost crisis involve significant reform of our health care delivery system in America.  In addition, there are enormous complexities in addressing (and fixing) the cost-drivers in Medicare and Medicaid. So - yes - policymakers ought to get serious about tackling these issues... but it will take time and it will not be easy.

None of that, however, should be used as an excuse to delay us from focusing on Social Security.  We all know that the onset of the baby boomer's retirement is one of the underlying factors that will explode costs in all entitlement programs.  Compared to the myriad difficulties in the health field, the menu of reform options for Social Security is much more manageable.  Accordingly, politicians should view Social Security reform as a first step toward comprehensive entitlement reform.  In short, if they can not come together around a Social Security fix, they are kidding themselves that a health care fix is within reach.

It's Immoral - Guest Blogger Susan ChamberlinBy For Our Grandchildren

I'll take a stab at responding to For Our Grandchildren's Americans Sound-Off question: Is the way politicians are handling Social Security immoral?

With all the inequities inherent to the system (e.g., working women, low income workers, widows, unmarried people, etc.), the Social Security retirement program is ripe for change. Like For Our Grandchildren's Lea Abdnor, I'm incensed that the majority of women these days will be in the workplace, raise children, tend to elderly parents, and so on and still receive little or no extra benefit for the taxes they pay.

I reserve a special place of ire for those members of Congress that know about these inequities--and know about the system's looming financial crisis that the nation's top experts say is coming-- but still do nothing.

Like it or not, the American people depend on Congress to address the issues reasonably and responsibly.  Playing politics with this and other issues should be added to the very definition of what "immorality" is.

- Susan Chamberlin

Fashionable Social Security in the Style SectionBy Heidi Neel

Crowding out the typical Washington Post Style section articles on new sitcoms, fashion advice, and Washington power couples, is an article on the federal budget and the “tsumani of entitlement spending.” Come again?

David Walker: A Tsunami of SpendingBy Tim Penny

On 60 Minutes this past Sunday, Senator Kent Conrad - Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee - said what most of his colleagues are unwilling to say:

"I believe first of all, we need more revenue. We need to be tough on spending. And we need to reform the entitlement programs - we need to do it all."

McCain on American IdolBy Heidi Neel

Liken the presidential campaign to American Idol and McCain just “put it down with the right song choice.”

In a recent interview with Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, John McCain spoke like a confident and knowledable leader,  “If I were president, I’d have three agenda items (assuming that immigration reform is somehow addressed). Do away with wasteful spending, take every step necessary to do away with wasteful spending. Second, Social Security reform. Third, help Medicare and Medicaid. Why in that order? Because I think you can succeed in the first two far more easily than the third. Because the third is far more complex an issue. I can explain the Social Security problem to any group of Americans in five minutes.”

A Voice in the HeartlandBy James Hamilton

Bloomington, Indiana resident Jeff Fraser's eloquent letter to the editor of the Indianapolis Star outlines the reasons Social Security's solvency issues must be addressed sooner rather than later.  It's worth the read.