The Urban Institute hosts a debate today on Can Social Security Reform Wait?:

The Social Security solvency debate has now lingered for years, despite continual calls for reform by the Social Security trustees. Some observers argue the contrary, that there’s no reason to engage in reform now; let’s wait and see what economic news brings. In any case, tentative efforts by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have gone nowhere, and the creation of yet another Social Security commission got almost no traction. Meanwhile, most projections of government deficits indicate that health care is the 800-pound gorilla in the budget debate. Perhaps we should just turn to health care and forget Social Security for a while. In this session of Versus, Gene Steuerle will take the pro and Dean Baker the con on pushing for immediate Social Security reform. Robert D. Reischauer, President of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, will be the moderator.

The debate takes place at 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m., 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.  RSVP via the Internet, e-mail , or phone ((202) 261-5709).