(Washington D.C.)- Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Pete Stark and Social Subcommittee Ranking Member Sander Levin issued the following response today to President Bush's recess appointments of John L. Palmer and Thomas R. Saving as public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare programs. 

"The decision to circumvent Congress by appointing public trustees during recess provides additional evidence of the Bush administration's disdain for Medicare and Social Security," said Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Stark.  "The Bush Administration has a history of manipulating numbers to advance their ideological agenda to destroy Medicare.  Public trustees are not supposed to merely rubber-stamp an administration's product. But the just-appointed trustees were not involved in the year-long process of developing assumptions and overseeing methodologies. If the Administration wants to be honest about the review process, they will issue the 2006 reports without the signatures of the public trustees. "

President Bush is using this Congressional Recess to reappoint Messrs. Palmer and Saving, whose term as Social Security and Medicare public trustees ended in March 2005.  Public trustees for these programs have never served more than one term. Despite the almost year-long delay following the end of Saving's and Palmer's terms and the sending of a Democratic nominee to the White House, the Bush Administration failed to advance a new set of nominees for discussion and has instead resorted to an unprecedented recess re-appointment. 

"Social Security is a critical source of independence for generations of Americans, and its oversight is vital for the public's trust," said Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Levin.  "These stealth appointments eliminate Congress' role in oversight and silence the voice of the American people.  Public trustees should not simply be signatures on a report, but genuine representatives trusted by the people to oversee the Trust Fund.  This unprecedented decision by President Bush is a jarring reminder of how he blindly pushed to privatize Social Security, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people."

Social Security and Medicare trustees issue annual reports outlining the fiscal health of the two programs.  Federal law requires the trustees report be issued by April 1 each year, however, the 2006 reports have not yet been released.  The Administration's attempts to justify this inaction by citing the lack of new public trustees, but history does not support their position - reports were issued in 1990 without public trustees.  By not being in place throughout the year, neither of these re-appointed Trustees has been involved in the production of the pending 2006 reports.

To view a one-page background on the Social Security and Medicare Public Trustees please click here.

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