The time to start reforming Social Security and Medicare, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee on Jan. 18, "is about 10 years ago."

With annual budget deficits already in the hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of millions of baby boomers preparing to retire and collect benefits from the nation's two largest entitlement programs, the United States, Bernanke said, must act now or face adjustments that are "more draconian [and] more difficult."

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that Social Security and Medicare costs will jump from 8.5 percent of gross domestic product today to 10.5 percent in 2015 and 15 percent in 2030.

"If government debt and deficits were actually to grow at the pace envisioned by the CBO's scenario, the effects on the U.S. economy would be severe," Bernanke said.

Bush administration officials have reportedly been discussing Social Security reform options with Democratic lawmakers, but a bipartisan agreement that would overhaul the program remains distant.

Two days before Bernanke's comments, Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., introduced legislation in their respective chambers that would establish a commission to recommend changes to the nation's tax and entitlements system on which Congress would be required to vote.