The Social Security plan should be overhauled as soon as possible, said House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas.

``The president’s stepped out there and provided us cover. But that doesn’t mean you just do Social Security. Frankly, we have not tended to the needs of an aging society the way we should with our government programs. Let’s integrate it, let’s coordinate it, let’s make sense out of it and look at the larger package,’’ said Thomas.

The Congress should keep in mind that the package must include increasing the retirement age, discouraging early retirement, splitting off disabled, according to Bloomberg. The benefits cannot be cut to the extent the Bush administration suggested, said Thomas.

``If we’re going to fix Social Security for all time, we ought to fix the tax code,’’ he also added, pointing at the need for the Congress to consider accelerating the increase of the retirement age to 67 instead of the current 65.