better life. if not for them for their kids. my italian tkpwraeurpbtsd never spoke english. i never had conversation with them but they made america great. >> this friday we have the debate over the question should the u.s. shut its borders. watch it friday at 9:00 p.m. on c-span and live at c-span.org. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage being find it any time online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates and other events with markers that guide you to interesting highlights. they appear on the right-hand side of the screen when hit play on select videos. it makes it easy to get an idea of what was debated and decided.

scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including spark late. >> the greatest town on earth is the place you call home. we are all facing our greatest challenge. that is why spark light is working to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it is easier to do yours. >> they support c-span with the other television providers getting you a front row seat to democracy. >> a discussion on the future of social security with two guests joining us for that, nancy altman the president of social security works and the budget and entitlement policy and both of you thanks for giving us your

time. >> thanks for having me. host: can we start and know a little bit about your organization and perspective your organization brings to the topic of social security. guest: i work for the cato institute which is a unanimous partisan libertarian think tank in washington, d.c. we advise congress and administration on public policy and we have a long history with security having been known especially in the early 2000's for its plan to support private accounts in the bush administration was talking about it and we are building a new model at this time so you will see more policy reforms out of cato the next few months. guest: social security works is the name of our organization. i began working on social security in the 1970's. i realized in 2010 there was a

lot of misinformation about it. a lot of supposed to provide a sense of security and people were insecure because they were concerned the program would disappear. so i formed this organization social security works to educate everyone that social security is strong and will be there for everyone. host: the social security separation put out new information about the current status of the program and to sum rise -- you probably both know this -- with the old age and survivors trust fund it is currently able to pay 100% of benefit to 2033. then they become completed and then it could pay 79% with that trust fund and disability trust fund. it can pay 100% of total scheduled benefits to 2035. i want to ask what the new

figures mean. guest: social security is a pension plan. leak every other pension plan it has actuaries, and we are looking carefully at the income and outgo. they are annual reports that have come out since 1941 and should give people a sense of congress. congress has, not surprising when you project over decades that sometimes you will have an anticipated espn+ of surplus -- surplus and sometimes anticipated short falls. so there's no question congress will act but the question is what they will do. guest: there are slight improvements in the outlook of social security finances thanks

to greater labor productivity so we live in exciting times with the advancement of ai supporting especially lower and less educated works in their jobs we have seen great gains there. i look forward to seeing how that plays out. to the degree the finances have been deteriorating it is in large part due to the aging of american society which is in combination with the decline in fertility. last year we had the leest fehr till -- the lowest fertility rate meaning americans are having fewer babies. that factors into social security because it is a pay as you go program. that means current workers working today including myself and nancy are paying for the benefits of current retirees. >> you can see that around the country. president trump is a friend and i want to be here to