It's been an exceptional year. 2008 saw not only economic indicators that evoked memories of the Great Depression, but also a record-breaking federal budget deficit. The federal government, through several agencies, activated trillions of dollars in loans and asset guarantees. Congress approved the largest supplemental spending bill in its history and gave the Treasury Department the authority to expend the equivalent of three-fourths of the federal discretionary budget on one sector of the economy. But in many other ways, Congress proved to be unremarkable by staying true to its recent history of underachievement.

The House Ways and Means Committee made Social Security the focus of its work over the past two weeks, holding a number of hearings and announcing the intention to write legislation this summer. Rep. James McCrery (R-LA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security, stated House lawmakers will be ready to write Social Security legislation by July 1. However, this legislation could very well include a number of deleterious tax cuts -- masked as savings incentives -- that would primarily benefit the wealthy, not fix the problem of Social Security solvency, and would further add to the nation's budget deficits.

President Bush has recently increased his efforts to sell the American public on his plan to privatize Social Security despite continuing evidence that more and more Americans are rejecting his proposals. Yet even while launching a “60 cities in 60 days” tour, the president and other administration officials have been carefully maneuvering to allow whatever reform is adopted to be seen as a victory for the administration.

As President Bush continues his efforts to raise anxiety across the country about the Social Security program, more and more members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, are starting to speak uniformly on the need for patience in working towards a solution. Even House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan urged caution and called for further debate in approaching Social Security reform this past week.