lift the FICA tax income cap to assure the perpetual solvency of Social Security and to fully fund Medicare.

Currently, those earning over $125,000 do not pay any FICA tax on any of their income above that ceiling. By lifting the cap on FICA, the revenue gained would make Social Security secure indefinitely without requiring any changes to the retirement age or making any changes to benefits. In fact, some of the additional revenue could be used to bolster the Medicare program making benefit changes to that program unnecessary as well. Since Social Security is, by statute, not part of the regular budget of the United States and is a self-funded program, this takes the idea of "entitlement reform" off the table in negotiating deficit reductions with the congress and refocuses it on defense and other discretionary spending.