Lawmakers Float Plans to Avert 22% Social Security Cut by 2032
Updated
Updated · WBAL Radio · Aug 26
Lawmakers Float Plans to Avert 22% Social Security Cut by 2032
3 articles · Updated · WBAL Radio · Aug 26
Summary
A projected 22% benefit cut in 2032 is driving a small but widening Senate push to shore up Social Security, with retiring Sens. Dick Durbin and Bill Cassidy proposing a bipartisan process to produce legislation.
Their bill would have the Social Security Advisory Board draft a plan to keep the retirement trust fund solvent for 50 years, then send it to Congress for up to 100 hours of debate and votes requiring 60 senators.
Support is thin even for that procedural approach: AARP opposes it as a fast-track for benefit changes, and Cassidy says lawmakers still resist taking any tough Social Security vote.
Other ideas range from Cassidy and Tim Kaine's $1.5 trillion investment fund—financed by Treasury borrowing—to proposals to lift the payroll-tax cap now set at $184,500, which one estimate says could raise more than $3.2 trillion over a decade.
With no plan gaining traction, the fight over taxes, benefits and borrowing is likely to fall to the next Congress and president as the 2032 deadline approaches.