As the dust settles on the midterm elections and the new congress is set to be evenly divided, policymakers need to begin crafting bipartisan solutions to continue funding the Social Security program.
At $2.7 trillion and declining precipitously, the Social Security trust fund will be completely depleted by 2034. While some Republicans have proposed imposing sunset clauses for Social Security, the President has offered little in the way of practical solutions. In the runup to the elections, President Biden repeatedly accused congressional Republicans of planning to put Social Security on the “chopping block.” Yet he failed to offer his own ideas for closing the gap between payroll tax receipts and promised benefits. The president’s current plan — apparently to do nothing — will automatically cut benefits by 23 percent to all beneficiaries within the next twelve years.
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