WASHINGTON – Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, a member of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, charged today that the interim report of the President's Social Security Commission is "seriously flawed with one intent in mind – to frighten Americans about the program's solvency and to skew the debate in favor of privatization."

The Congressman, who has often said that Social Security needs to be strengthened and that private accounts that supplement Social Security needs to be carefully studied, charged that the report "misleads the public by painting a dire picture of Social Security's current solvency and implies that the Social Security Trust Funds are ‘empty,' which is absolutely not true," said the Congressman.

The report, which is to be officially released Tuesday, states that the trust funds contain only "promises" of future funding, not real assets. However, a 2000 report shows that at the end of that year the Social Security Trust Funds held more than $1 trillion in Treasury bonds. These reserves, the congressman stressed, will continue to grow, reaching an estimated value of $6.5 trillion in 2024, or more than three times the value of Social Security's annual benefit obligations.

"In claiming that the Social Security Trust Funds have no real assets, the report ignores the fact that the trust funds are invested in Treasury bonds – the safest investment in the world. I am appalled at the implication of this interim report that the U.S. government does not intend to make good on the Treasury bonds held by Americans."

"I think all options need to be seriously considered, but the American people are not well served by the publication of inaccurate and misleading information on this most successful program for senior citizens. We need straight talk and sound analysis, not a one-sided report designed to scare people into support for a particular course of action," said Rep. Cardin.