Bill floated to bolster Social Security payments, trust fund

A bill that aims to bolster Social Security while implementing an across-the-board benefit increase for current and new beneficiaries was introduced in the House Tuesday.

Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, reintroduced the Social Security 2100 Act.

The bill, a version of which was last introduced and debated in 2019, would increase payments by about 2% for current and new beneficiaries; establish a new minimum benefit at 25% above the poverty line in order to protect low-income workers; and end the current five-month waiting period to receive disability benefits. It would also change the way cost-of-living adjustments are calculated by adopting the consumer price index for the elderly formula, a Bureau of Labor Statistics research price index for Americans 62 years and older.

To pay for the improvements, the bill would apply the payroll tax to wages above $400,000, which would affect the top 0.4% of wage earners, according to a fact sheet from Mr. Larson's office. Presently, payroll taxes are not collected on wages over $142,800, the fact sheet noted.

"It's been 50 years since Congress has enhanced Social Security benefits and 38 years since it has taken any comprehensive action," Mr. Larson said at a press conference Tuesday, imploring the bill's passage.

Collectively, the Social Security trust funds — one that covers retirees and their families and one that covers disabled workers and their families — will be out of money by 2034, according to the latest Social Security trustees' annual report released in August. On its own, the retiree trust fund has a projected depletion date of 2033, one year sooner than last year's projection. The disability insurance trust fund is projected to be depleted in 2057 — eight years sooner than last year's estimate.

Mr. Larson's bill would combine the two trust funds and would also extend the trust fund depletion date to 2038 in order to give Congress more time to solve the issue.

"Now some say our plates are too full here in Congress to take up Social Security, but frankly, it's the plates of working Americans that are full," Mr. Larson said at the press conference. "Our job is to ease their concerns by strengthening the program that 65 million Americans rely on."

Several prominent Democrats, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts, also spoke in support of the bill at the press conference. While Republicans are unlikely to support the bill, Democrats narrowly control the House and Senate.