Plan revived to pay ‘notch babies’

Benjamin Grove

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 3:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has again resumed a long-standing battle to reverse a quirk in federal law that shortchanges so-called "notch babies."

Reid on Thursday re-introduced a bill that attempts to give a $5,000 lump sum payment to the estimated 7 million to 11 million people born between 1917 and 1926.

Many in that age group had part of their Social Security benefits carved out of the national budget when Congress in 1977 approved changes in how Social Security benefits are calculated.

The changes meant that notch babies have received less money -- in some cases $200 a month less, by some estimates -- than people born before 1917 or after 1926.

Numerous notch baby bills have been introduced in Congress in the past 20 years, but there has been little legislative action. The bill has suffered limited support in Congress. Even the leading seniors group AARP opposes giving more money to notch babies.

Critics, including AARP, say notch babies compare themselves to people born between 1911 and 1916, who got more than Congress intended. They say the seniors are getting a higher percentage of their earnings before retirement than will future generations.

Reid has been a leading proponent of paying notch babies. His effort has resulted in the Senate resolving to examine the issue. But neither the House nor Senate has set in motion increased payments to the seniors.

Nevada's House members, Reps. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, and Jim Gibbons, a Republican, support notch baby legislation that increases the schedule of Social Security payments, although they are co-sponsors of slightly different bills. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., also supports compensation for notch babies.

"Social Security was intended to be both stable and fair, but without a commitment to those principles from Congress, it can never be either," Berkley said after co-signing a notch baby bill introduced on the first day of Congress in January.

Some observers say with some cynicism that the legislation has met with limited political support in part because the bill's beneficiaries are dying.

Reid and other bill supporters argue that the nation's budget surplus can easily support notch baby payments. Reid's bill would offer notch-baby lump-sum payments of $5,000, or an increased future Social Security payment schedule.