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Social Security and Medicare are critical social insurance programs upon which millions of American workers and retirees rely. Lately, however, these programs have lacked a key component of public oversight. Specifically, for the past four years, the Boards of Trustees that look after these important national programs have been without the two Public Trustees, leading to a record-breaking period in which these positions have been vacant.

The Boards of Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds provide crucial oversight of Social Security and Medicare. The 1983 Social Security Amendments introduced the Public Trustees to serve as independent voices on the Boards. Detached from partisan politics and the perspective of any particular administration, the two Public Trustees report on the status of the Trust Funds to Congress and the American people, helping to preserve public confidence in the financial management of Medicare and Social Security.

These positions have been vacant since 2015, violating the intent of federal law and depriving Congress and the public of key objective insights into the health of the Trust Funds. It is imperative that the vacancies are filled expeditiously to ensure the proper monitoring and safeguarding of the funds that help provide a secure financial foundation for millions of Americans. This is especially true at a time when both programs face significant long-range financing challenges.

We urge the United States Senate to act on the pending nominees as soon as possible to provide independent and bipartisan oversight of the programs’ finances.

Sincerely,

Henry J. Aaron Barry Anderson William J. Arnone Member of the Social Former Congressional Chief Executive Officer Security Advisory Board; Budget Office Acting National Academy of Social Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Director; Insurance Senior Fellow, The Brookings Office of Management and Institution Budget Senior Career Official Mike Astrue Former Commissioner of the Loren Adler Joseph R. Antos Social Security Associate Director Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Administration USC-Brookings Schaeffer Health Care and Retirement Initiative for Health Policy Policy G. Lawrence Atkins

American Enterprise Research Director Shai Akabas Institute Long-Term Quality Alliance Director of Economic Policy Bipartisan Policy Center

Todd Barth Jeffrey R. Brown David Dreier President, Bowers Properties, Dean, Gies College of Former U.S. Representative Inc.; Former Trustee of Business (R-CA) Teacher Retirement System University of Illinois of Texas Karen Dynan Sheila Burke Professor of Practice, Jared Bernstein Adjunct Lecturer in Public Economics Department Economist Policy Harvard Kennedy School Andrew Biggs Janice Eberly Resident Scholar Leonard Burman Former Assistant Secretary of American Enterprise Institute Fellow the Treasury for Economic Institute Policy; James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance, Jeff Bingaman Stuart M. Butler Kellogg School of Former U.S. Senator (D-NM) Senior Fellow Management, Northwestern The University Robert L. Bixby Executive Director James C. Capretta Doug Elmendorf The Concord Coalition Former Associate Director Former Director Office of Management and Congressional Budget Office Rudy Boschwitz Budget Former U.S. Senator (R-MN) Vic Fazio Kent Conrad Former U.S. Representative Barry Bosworth Former U.S. Senator (D-ND) (D-CA) Senior Fellow The Brookings Institution Dan Crippen Jason Fichtner Former Director Fellow Erskine Bowles Congressional Budget Office Bipartisan Policy Center Co-Chair The National Commission on Francis J. Crosson Howard Fluhr Fiscal Responsibility and Chairman Chairman Emeritus Reform Medicare Payment Advisory The Segal Group Commission Chantel Boyens Marty Ford Principal Policy Associate Tom Daschle Senior Advisor Urban Institute Former U.S. Senator (D-SD) The Arc of the United States

Alex Brill James H. Douglas Gail D. Fosler Resident Fellow Former Governor (R-VT) President American Enterprise The GailFosler Group LLC Institute

Joel Friedman Marc Goldwein Kevin Hassett Vice President for Federal Senior Vice President Former Chair Fiscal Policy Committee for a Responsible Council of Economic Center on Budget and Policy Federal Budget Advisers Priorities Joshua Gotbaum Jim Hearn Bill Frist Guest Scholar, Economic Budget Officer Former U.S. Senate Majority Studies Public Company Accounting Leader (R-TN) The Brookings Institution Oversight Board

William G. Gale Gordon Gray C. Robert Henrikson Co-Director Director of Fiscal Policy Former Chairman and CEO Urban-Brookings Tax Policy American Action Forum Metlife Center Robert Greenstein G. William Hoagland William A. Galston President Senior Vice President Senior Fellow Center on Budget and Policy Bipartisan Policy Center The Brookings Institution Priorities Douglas Holtz-Eakin Teresa Ghilarducci Judd Gregg Former Director, Bernard L. and Irene Former U.S. Senator and Congressional Budget Office; Schwartz Professor of Governor (R-NH) President, American Action Economics; Director, Forum Schwartz Center for Keith Hall Economic Policy Analysis, Former Director, Glen Hubbard The New School Congressional Budget Office; Former Chair Professor of Practice, Council of Economic Paul B. Ginsburg McCourt School of Public Advisers Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Policy, Georgetown Health Policy Studies University Peter Kemper The Brookings Institution Former Deputy Assistant Seth Hanlon Secretary Dan Glickman Senior Fellow Office of the Assistant Former U.S. Secretary of Center for American Progress Secretary for Planning and Agriculture and Evaluation, Department of Representative (D-KS) Ron Haskins Health and Human Services Senior Fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale The Brookings Institution Jack Kingston Member of the Social Former U.S. Representative Security Advisory Board; (R-GA) Director of Special Projects, Penn Wharton Budget Model

Charles Kolb Ted McCann John Palmer Former President Vice President University Professor and Committee for Economic American Idea Foundation Dean Emeritus, Maxwell Development School of Citizenship and Tom McInerney Public Affairs Jim Kolbe President & CEO Syracuse University Former U.S. Representative Genworth Financial (R-AZ) Warren Payne Buck McKeon Senior Policy Advisor Judith R. Lave Former U.S. Representative Mayer Brown Professor Emerita of Health (R-CA) Economics Rudolph G. Penner University of Pittsburgh George Miller Former Director Former U.S. Representative Congressional Budget Office Michael O. Leavitt (D-CA) Chairman Tim Penny Leavitt Partners, LLC Joe Minarik Former U.S. Representative Former Associate Director for (D-MN) Jack Lew Economic Policy Former U.S. Secretary of Office of Management and Debra Perry Treasury Budget Non-Executive Director Genworth Financial Trent Lott Olivia S. Mitchell Former U.S. Senate Majority Economist Tim Petri Leader (R-MS) Former U.S. Representative Marilyn Moon (R-WI) Maya MacGuineas Former Public Trustee of President Social Security and Medicare Robert Reischauer Committee for a Responsible Former Director, Federal Budget Monique Morrissey Congressional Budget Office; Economist Former Public Trustee of the Brigitte Madrian Economic Policy Institute Social Security and Medicare Dean, Marriott School of Trust Funds Business Alicia Munnell Brigham Young University Director Brian Riedl Center for Retirement Senior Fellow Donald B. Marron Research at Boston College Manhattan Institute Former Acting Director, Congressional Budget Office; Paul H. O'Neill Kathleen Romig Institute Fellow, Urban Former U.S. Secretary of Senior Policy Analyst Institute Treasury Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Alice R. Rosenblatt Alan Simpson Eugene Steuerle Former MedPAC member Former U.S. Senator (R- Richard B. Fisher Chair; WY); Co-chair of the Co-founder, Tax Policy Avik Roy National Commission on Center & Center on President Fiscal Responsibility and Nonprofits & Philanthropy The Foundation for Research Reform Urban Institute on Equal Opportunity

Dallas Salisbury Andy Slavitt John Tierney Former President and CEO Former Acting Former U.S. Representative Employee Benefit Research Administrator (D-MA) Institute Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Rebecca Vallas Sylvester Schieber Senior Fellow Center for American Progress Former Chair of the Social Sita N. Slavov

Security Advisory Board Professor of Public Policy Paul Van de Water and Director of Public Senior Fellow Allyson Schwartz Policy Ph.D. Program Center on Budget and Policy Former U.S. Representative George Mason University (D-PA) Priorities

Jack Smalligan Kathleen Sebelius David M. Walker Senior Policy Fellow, Former U.S. Secretary of Former Public Trustee of Health and Human Services Income and Benefits Social Security and Medicare; Policy Center Former U.S. Comptroller Louise Sheiner Urban Institute General

Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and Karen Smith Mark A. Weinberger Policy Director for the Senior Policy Fellow, Former Member of the Social Security Advisory Board; Hutchins Center on Fiscal Income and Benefits Former Assistant Secretary of and Monetary Policy Policy Center the Treasury for Tax Policy The Brookings Institution Urban Institute

Christian Weller Olympia Snowe Senior Fellow Former U.S. Senator (R- Center for American Progress ME)

John Weston Gail Wilensky Larry Zimpleman Honorary Chairman Former Administrator Former Chairman, President Automatic Data Processing Centers for Medicare and and CEO Inc. Medicaid Services Principal Financial Group

Note: Institutions of signatories are included only for purposes of identification.