"With the rising cost of living, it's time to modernize and expand the program." "While House Republicans are willing to put Social Security on the chopping block, we are fighting hard to protect Americans' hard-earned benefits and expand coverage," said Hoyle. Schakowsky warned that "instead of working to protect Social Security, my Republican colleagues are plotting to cut benefits and raise the retirement age."Ĭontrary to the claims of GOP lawmakers who are clamoring to slash benefits and postpone eligibility, the latest annual Social Security trustees report showed that the program has a $2.85 trillion surplus in its trust fund, enabling it to pay 100% of promised benefits through 2035, 90% for the next 25 years, and 80% for the next 75 years. While the average Social Security benefit is only $1,688 a month, nearly 40% of seniors rely on Social Security for a majority of their income one in seven rely on it for more than 90% of their income and nearly half of Americans aged 55 and older have no retirement savings at all. Nearly 90 years later, the senior poverty rate is down to 10.3% and in 2021 alone, during the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, Social Security lifted 26.3 million Americans out of poverty, including more than 18 million seniors.ĭespite this long legacy of combatting poverty, more must be done to strengthen the program, not cut it. Roosevelt, about 50% of the nation's seniors were living in poverty, as well as countless Americans living with disabilities and surviving dependents of deceased workers. "Our bill puts an end to that absurdity which will allow us to protect Social Security for generations to come while lifting millions of seniors out of poverty."īefore 1935, when it was signed into law by President Franklin D. "Right now, a Wall Street CEO who makes $30 million pays the same amount into Social Security as someone who makes $160,000 a year," the Vermont Independent added. "The legislation that we are introducing today will expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and will extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 75 years by making sure that the wealthiest people in our society pay their fair share into the system." "Our job is to expand Social Security so that every senior in America can retire with the dignity that they deserve and every person with a disability can live with the security they need," the chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions continued. "At a time when nearly half of older Americans have no retirement savings and almost 50% of our nation's seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $25,000 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security," Sanders said in a statement. If enacted, the bill would have raised more than $3.4 billion from the nation's top 11 highest-paid CEOs alone in 2021, including $2.9 billion from Tesla and Twitter executive Elon Musk. The legislation proposes lifting this cap and subjecting all income above $250,000 per year to the Social Security payroll tax. households that make $250,000 or less per year, according to an analysis conducted by the Social Security Administration at the request of Sanders.Ĭurrently, annual earnings above $160,200 are not subject to the Social Security payroll tax, which means that millionaires will stop contributing to the program later this month. The bill would accomplish this by lifting the cap on the maximum amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax-a change that would not raise taxes on the 93% of U.S. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Val Hoyle, D-Ore., in the House, would put an additional $2,400 in beneficiaries' pockets each year and ensure the program is fully funded through 2096. The Social Security Expansion Act, introduced by Sanders, I-Vt., and Warren, D-Mass., in the Senate and by Reps. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren led a group of lawmakers Monday in unveiling legislation that would increase Social Security benefits by at least $200 per month and prolong the program's solvency for decades by finally requiring wealthy Americans to pay their fair share. Feel free to republish and share widely.Īs congressional Republicans threaten to cut Social Security and other key federal programs, progressive Sens. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. This article originally appeared at Common Dreams.
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