The cuts could be as deep as $18,000 per year for a typical married couple, the report found.
By Chris
Walker , Truthout
The
analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan
watchdog group that provides insight and advice on federal spending measures,
finds that there is “only a little more than seven years” until the Social
Security trust fund reaches insolvency.
Concerns over the solvency of Social Security have been
discussed for quite some time. However, OBBBA accelerates the rate at which
insolvency will be reached, the report pointed out, stating:
The law dictates that when the trust funds deplete their
reserves, payments are limited to incoming revenues. For the Social Security
retirement program, we estimate that means a 24 percent benefit cut in late
2032, after the enactment of OBBBA.
For the average dual-income couple retiring in 2033, those
cuts would amount to more than $18,000 in fewer benefits annually.
The bill will accelerate depletion of Social Security and
Medicare’s trust funds by a year, according to an analysis.
Trump frequently promised during the 2024 presidential
campaign that
he wouldn’t touch Social Security. Yet this outcome is
exactly what the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget predicted in
October 2024, with the organization stating that Trump’s tax and economic
proposals would lead to benefit cuts within six years.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a plan that would have this big of a negative effect on solvency in a general election campaign,” Marc Goldwein, the committee’s senior policy director, said at the time.
The group also rejects the concept of “not touching” Social
Security, noting that something more direct must be done to keep the popular
program afloat. According
to the report:
Policymakers pledging not to touch Social Security are
implicitly endorsing these deep benefit cuts for 62 million retirees in 2032
and beyond. It is time for policymakers to tell the truth about the program’s
finances and to pursue trust fund solutions to head off insolvency and improve
the program for current and future generations.
Without any action by lawmakers soon, the poverty rate among
elderly Americans could double, several
other estimates have suggested.
Although retirement is just one aspect of Social Security,
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), recognizing the looming crisis, introduced
legislation this month that aims
to tackle what he calls “the retirement crisis” in the U.S.
The proposal would require corporations to offer workers “a
traditional pension plan that guarantees a monthly income in retirement,”
Sanders said in announcing his plan. If a corporation fails to do so, workers
“must be allowed to receive the same type of pension that every member of
Congress receives,” he continued.
The bill, titled the Pensions for All Act, would bolster
previous plans offered by Sanders to strengthen Social Security.
“If we can guarantee a defined benefit pension plan for
members of Congress, we can and we must provide that same level of retirement
security to every worker in America,” Sanders added.
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