{"id":16390,"date":"2026-06-16T11:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T03:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16390"},"modified":"2026-06-16T11:20:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T03:20:25","slug":"social-securitys-looming-insolvency-sparks-alarm-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16390","title":{"rendered":"Social Security\u2019s looming insolvency sparks alarm in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"493\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/92.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/92.png 493w, https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/92-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s (R-La.) call for Republicans to act on Social Security reform if they keep control of Congress in 2027 is getting pushback from Senate Republicans who warn it\u2019s a bad political message heading into November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, a trustees\u2019 report that the popular retirement program will become insolvent sooner than expected has lit a fire under lawmakers in both parties to call for reforms such as raising the cap on payroll taxes, \u201cmeans testing\u201d beneficiaries, raising the retirement age, and creating personal accounts to invest in the stock markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sign up for the latest from The Hill here<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Social Security trustees\u2019 report warned that beneficiaries would see their monthly checks cut by 22 percent in 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fiscal conservatives are applauding Johnson\u2019s bold talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m sending a letter to our leadership. \u2026 I\u2019m sending them an official letter saying we should set up a bicameral, bipartisan [committee] \u2014 equal number of Republicans, equal number of Democrats \u2014 and the sole goal is to discuss how to make Social Security and Medicare solvent,\u201d Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he\u2019s going to hold the Speaker to his promise to address Social Security\u2019s future fiscal trajectory if Republicans keep control of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were promised \u2026 if we retain the majority, we\u2019re definitely going to tackle this. I\u2019ll try and hold them to this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Wisconsin Republican said he wants to \u201cplus up\u201d Social Security benefits by slashing federal spending more generally to create more fiscal space to fund Social Security without adding to the deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But some Republicans are wary of Johnson\u2019s call for action because they remember the brutal political lesson from 20 years ago when former President George W. Bush tried to reform Social Security without Democratic buy-in and it blew up in Republicans\u2019 faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat sounds like wealthy people who want to have all of their tax breaks and loopholes and their carried interest deductions and so forth but they want working people who paid into all of those programs for years to take less,\u201d Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said when asked about the Speaker\u2019s statements about the need to tackle big mandatory spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hawley says he gets nervous when policymakers talk about the need to \u201caddress\u201d or \u201creform\u201d Social Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAddressed? Reformed? That\u2019s usually code for \u2018cut.\u2019 I\u2019m not in favor of that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Speaker warned in a radio interview that Congress needs to tackle the ballooning cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which account for three-quarters of federal spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe reason we\u2019re in trouble is because over 74 percent of federal spending is on autopilot \u2014 mandatory spending, that is your entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and things like Social Security \u2014 they have to be adjusted and fixed,\u201d Johnson said on the \u201cMoon Griffon Show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have a plan to do that next year, and it\u2019s critical, because we\u2019re at $40 trillion-plus in debt. At some point you get into a hole so deep you can\u2019t climb out of it, so desperate times call for desperate measures,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some Senate Republicans think that kind of talk before a midterm election when GOP candidates are facing big headwinds in November is politically tone deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked about Johnson\u2019s comments that Social Security needs to be addressed, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) merely said the Speaker is \u201centitled to his opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think Mike is my friend, and he\u2019s entitled to his opinion,\u201d Kennedy said tersely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on Senate GOP reaction to proposals to raise the Social Security retirement age, trim benefits or raise payroll taxes, said colleagues don\u2019t want to \u201cwalk the plank\u201d by embracing calls for reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The senator cited the huge political blowback to the Bush administration in 2005 when it attempted to partially privatize Social Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has to be bipartisan,\u201d said the GOP senator, who added that \u201call the Republicans\u201d are \u201cnot going to walk the plank on Social Security reform all by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn 2004, when we started talking about supplementing Social Security accounts by diverting money to private accounts under Bush, we got creamed on that,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republicans suffered big losses in both chambers of Congress in the 2006 midterm election after Bush handily won reelection and Republicans picked up Senate and House seats in the 2004 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Trump pledged in the 2024 presidential campaign that he wouldn\u2019t do anything to reduce Social Security or Medicare benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare. \u2026 We\u2019ll have to do it elsewhere. But we\u2019re not going to do anything to hurt them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet there\u2019s growing anxiety on Capitol Hill that lack of action will lead to a Social Security funding crisis in a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt some point in time, those lines are going to cross,\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Murkowski expressed skepticism about passing legislation in the next Congress to shore up Social Security given its reputation as the so-called Third Rail of politics. Just like the electrified third rail in the subway, merely touching it poses a deadly risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn terms of who\u2019s going to take that up or if will it be taken up after the midterms, I have no idea,\u201d Murkowski. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese are the things that nobody wants to touch because they\u2019re so big. The only way they happen is if they are a bipartisan effort from the get-go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Murkowski lamented Sen. Bill Cassidy\u2019s (R-La.) recent defeat in the Louisiana Senate Republican primary because he was the leading advocate of putting together a bipartisan working group to address Social Security\u2019s faltering finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four senior senators \u2014 two Democrats and two Republicans \u2014 issued a statement last week calling on Congress to tackle the \u201chard\u201d debate over how to reform Social Security after the trustees\u2019 warned the program will face a significant shortfall at the end of 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s clear now that Congress shouldn\u2019t delay any longer. Several of us have been coming together to talk about how we can strengthen Social Security for current and future generations of retirees. We say to our colleagues: join us in doing what we were elected to do \u2014 legislate on hard issues and protect this lifeline program for our kids and grandkids,\u201d Cassidy and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One problem, however, is that three of those four lawmakers won\u2019t be in Congress next year. Cassidy lost his reelection race, and Durbin and Tillis have announced their retirements at the end of the term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kaine acknowledged the odds of doing anything about Social Security in the next Congress are low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Vegas odds probably are not great because the history is we tackle it when we absolutely have to, right when we\u2019re up against a potential benefits cut,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kaine said the goal is to start the discussion now so that there are more ideas on the table when the projected 2032 insolvency date is even closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the reasons I\u2019ve enjoyed working with Cassidy is getting more ideas into the bloodstream. If we can do it before we actually have to, it will be easier to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said he is already holding meetings with constituents to float various proposals for extending Social Security\u2019s fiscal health, such as raising the retirement age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve actually held town halls in Utah. We had one with our youth, with our business class, with our seniors and we\u2019ve presented the different levers that you could change. We\u2019re trying to get a sense of what levers my constituents could support,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do need to be talking about this. It\u2019s a huge disservice to say we\u2019re not going to touch Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis report is evidence that if we don\u2019t touch Social Security, it\u2019s far worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s (R-La.) call for Republicans to act on Social Security reform if they keep control of Congress in 2027 is getting pushback from Senate Republicans who warn it\u2019s a bad political message heading into November. Yet, a trustees\u2019 report that the popular retirement program will become insolvent sooner than expected has lit a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-16390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Social Security\u2019s looming insolvency sparks alarm in Congress - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16390\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social Security\u2019s looming insolvency sparks alarm in Congress - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s (R-La.) call for Republicans to act on Social Security reform if they keep control of Congress in 2027 is getting pushback from Senate Republicans who warn it\u2019s a bad political message heading into November. 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