S. 2752

Mr. President, I rise to comment on legislation that Chairman Grassley and I introduced yesterday that would limit public trustees for Social Security and Medicare to a single four-year term of service. The bill, S. 2752, will also codify that the President should consult with Congress on the nominations of public trustees for these important programs. This legislation was prompted by recent events.

Upon learning last November that the White House intended to renominate John L. Palmer and Thomas R. Saving as pubic trustees, Chairman Grassley and I both responded immediately that the White House should find two new individuals to nominate as public trustees. Both individuals had already served one term as Social Security and Medicare public trustees, and their terms ended in March 2005. Dr. Palmer and Dr. Saving served admirably as public trustees during their term and the Chairman and I thank them for their service, but I did not want to see an important tradition abandoned. Never in the history of the public trustees have individuals served more than one term, and that's for good reason. Fresh thinking and new ideas are critical to the proper assessment and administration of the Social Security and Medicare programs. If the executive branch will not voluntarily follow this vital precedent, this principle must be written into law.

There was a second problem last year. The White House is supposed to consult with the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee before sending the nominations to the Senate. Unfortunately, no such consultation occurred last year prior to the nominations being forwarded to the Senate. Therefore, the blll a adds language to the Social Security Act requiring the President to consult with the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Finance before considering individuals to be nominated as public trustees.

Ignoring our views, on April 19 of this year, the White House announced the recess appointments of Mr. Palmer and Mr. Saving as public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare programs. I immediately objected to this action by the White House because I believe the role of the public trustees is too important to be diminished by the recess appointment process. It was this extreme action on the part of the White House--in combination with the other two problems I mentioned previously--that prompted the chairman and me to introduce this bill today.

I think some good has come out of this unfortunate episode regarding the public trustees. Hopefully, everyone has a better understanding of the role of the public trustees. The Greenspan Commission recommended creating the positions of two public trustees to help ensure that the reports on the Social Security and Medicare trust funds were objective and not solely the work of administration officials. The Greenspan Commission envisioned experts from outside the executive branch who are confirmed by the Senate. They are unlike most other Presidential appointments because they do not represent the administration, they represent the public. Because of that unique distinction, it is inappropriate to recess appoint the public trustees. Individuals who are nominated to be public trustees should be selected by a process of consultation between the White House and Members of Congress. Once confirmed by the Senate, they should only serve one term. To do otherwise undermines the public trustees' role as an objective check on the production of the trust fund reports.

Since this legislation should not spark any controversy, I hope both Chambers will quickly consider and pass this bill and send it to the President for his signature.