The Federal Budget Puts Seniors Ahead of Children

Washington’s priorities are badly out of balance. As Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in Senate Finance Committee testimony, the federal government allocates about $6 to seniors for every $1 it allocates to children under 18.

That would be troubling enough on its own. It is worse because children are now the poorest cohort in America, while seniors as a group are no longer. Washington is allocating more to the politically powerful while leaving younger generations with less support and more debt.

Fewer Workers Are Carrying a Bigger Burden

Social Security was created for a different country. In America’s prime growth years, each beneficiary was supported by more than four workers. Soon there will be only about two workers for each retiree.

That math matters. A system built on many workers supporting fewer retirees becomes much harder to sustain when the ratio collapses. Yet Washington still refuses to confront the problem honestly.

Young workers are being asked to shoulder more and more of the cost. At the same time, they face high housing costs, slower growth, and a federal debt approaching $39 trillion.

Children Are Now the Poorest Cohort

MacGuineas made the core point clearly. When Social Security began, seniors were the poorest cohort, and the program was created to address a real need. Today, children are the poorest cohort, while seniors are the richest.

That does not mean current seniors should be harmed. It does mean Washington should stop pretending the country’s priorities still match the facts. Protecting current seniors while reforming the system for the future is not radical. It is responsible.

Washington Has Mortgaged the Future

The injustice does not stop with today’s allocations. Washington has also mortgaged the future of children and grandchildren through runaway debt.

That means younger Americans are getting hit twice. They receive less priority in the federal budget now, and they will be handed the bill later. That is not compassion. It is intergenerational unfairness.

Reform Cannot Wait

The longer Washington delays, the harder reform becomes. Lawmakers should protect current seniors and those near retirement, but they should also modernize future benefits to reflect today’s demographic and fiscal reality.

A country cannot keep allocating far more to retirees than to children, shrinking the worker base that finances the system, and piling debt onto the next generation without consequences.

CFE Takeaway

Washington is making a choice. It is choosing politically powerful constituencies over the country’s future. As MacGuineas warned in Senate Finance Committee testimony, children are now the poorest cohort, yet the federal government still allocates six times more to seniors than to kids.

That is backwards. Serious entitlement reform is not optional anymore. It is necessary to protect current seniors, restore fairness, and stop forcing young Americans to carry a burden that keeps getting heavier.