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Congressional Response: Representative Adam Smith (D-9th, WA) Responds to Your Notch Petition
The Notch Fairness Act provides a reasonable solution to the problem that those seniors who reached age 65 between 1981 and 1992 (those born in the so-called "notch" years) are facing. They would be able to choose either lump sum payments over four years totaling $5,000 or an improved benefit computation formula. As you may know, the "notch" baby problem came into existence because of the changes made to Social Security in 1977. The Social Security Amendments of 1977 changed the way Social Security benefits are calculated. As a result, beneficiaries born in the 15 years after 1916 saw a reduction in benefits. The benefits formula was changed because the Social Security Administration realized it was paying the pre-1916 beneficiaries too much and needed to shore up the Social Security trust fund to keep it solvent, and therefore they cut benefits to subsequent birth years. January 2005 | ||||||||
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You will be happy to know that I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 97, The Notch Fairness Act of 2003. I believe this bill takes the best approach to solving the notch problem: it provides senior citizens the benefits they deserve without relying entirely on budget surpluses that may or may not materialize. Rather, the money will come from savings in other government spending.