Most of the top Republicans running for president are embracing plans to partially privatize Social Security, reviving a contentious issue that fizzled under President George W. Bush after Democrats relentlessly attacked it.

Typical workers would get an extra $1,500 in their paychecks next year under a plan by President Barack Obama to expand a payroll tax cut that is scheduled expire at the end of the year. Higher paid workers would get more, and businesses would get tax breaks, too.

President Barack Obama is doubling down on a payroll tax cut for workers and small businesses, hoping it will do more to revive the job market than a smaller version has done this year.

The federal budget deficit will hit $1.28 trillion this year, down slightly from the previous two years, with even bigger savings to come over the next decade, according to congressional projections released Wednesday.

Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.

AARP, the powerful lobby for older Americans, was hammered Friday by fellow activists for refusing to oppose any and all cuts to Social Security benefits, a position the group says it has long held as a way to extend the life of the massive retirement and disability program.

The Social Security Administration made $6.5 billion in overpayments in 2009, including $4 billion under a supplemental income program for the very poor.

The Social Security Administration made $6.5 billion in overpayments to people not entitled to receive them in 2009, including $4 billion under a supplemental income program for the very poor, a government investigator said Tuesday.