"A poor economy in 2004 was the reason the Trustees, who are all political appointees of the President, changed their projection of the future date of depletion of the Social Security trust fund. Near term economic assumptions they had made, including real wages and employment for 2004, turned out to be wrong, as the actual performance of the economy was weaker in 2004 than they had guessed it would be.

"This is a stunning concession from one part of the Administration about the White House's poor leadership of the economy.

"The loss of one year in the trustees projections is small, however, and is not an argument to privatize Social Security, as the Administration has claimed. No other government program has a claim on 35 years of funding, as Social Security has. Diverting tax dollars away from Social Security, as the Administration seeks to do, will hasten the depletion of the trust fund and will do nothing to affect Social Security's long range finances."

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