Following Alarming Reports Social Security Will Face Insolvency By 2032, Durbin Calls On Congress To Strengthen Social Security Before End Of The Year

Following Alarming Reports Social Security Will Face Insolvency By 2032, Durbin Calls On Congress To Strengthen Social Security Before End Of The Year

Durbin: "The longer Congress waits to act on Social Security, the more expensive it will be [and] the more difficult the policy choices will be."

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) raised alarms that the Social Security Trust Fund will face insolvency in 2032 unless Congress acts and called on his colleagues to pass his new bipartisan legislation, the Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone (PROMISE) Act, to initiate Congressional action on extending Social Security's solvency.

"In 1983, we [Congress] faced a possibility where we couldn't make the promised Social Security payments to beneficiaries across America… And so, [Congress] proposed a commission to take a look at it... In 1983, we raised the retirement age, raised the amount of money paid by employers and employees into Social Security, and taxed income from Social Security for the first time. These changes were not easy, and some were controversial, but we knew we had to do it. Our goal was to buy 50 years of solvency for Social Security with the changes in 1983. And you know what? It worked," Durbin said. "It worked to the point where we just had an announcement last week by the trustees that the system will make every payment promised until the end 2032-50 years after the 1983 changes were made."

The Social Security Board of Trustees' annual report found that the Social Security Trust Fund will only be able to cover 78 percent of benefits in 2032-meaning that Americans who rely on the program will have their benefits reduced by 22 percent. In just six short years, the 70 million Americans who rely on Social Security will see their monthly benefits cut by an average of $450. Many beneficiaries have no other source of income, and they depend on Social Security.

"The obvious question from the American people-just those receiving Social Security today as well as those that will in the future-is what is Congress going to do about it now? … If you look at the agenda of the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives this year, we're going to do little or nothing… the bottom line is: the longer Congress waits to act on Social Security, the more expensive it will be [and] the more difficult the policy choices will be," Durbin said.

That's why Durbin introduced the bipartisan PROMISE Act-legislation that would create a transparent, fair, and bipartisan process to ensure Congress finally debates-and votes-on the future of Social Security. Under the bill, the independent Social Security Advisory Board would collect public input and send a proposal to Congress that would keep the Trust Fund solvent for the next 50 years, at least. That would begin a process in both the House and Senate to hold Committee hearings, offer germane amendments, debate competing proposals, and ultimately vote on them.

During his speech, Durbin noted that there have been various bipartisan proposals to strengthen Social Security but unfortunately none have come to fruition.

"If they [the Republican majority] believe Social Security is important enough to make it a priority, let's put it on the legislative agenda when we return this year. Let's give peace of mind to the millions of Americans who currently live on Social Security benefits and those that work every week and every month paying into Social Security for their own retirement in the future. This is not easy, but it is doable. I was part of that process many years ago and want to be part of it again before I retire at the end of this year," Durbin said.

Durbin concluded, "We have the bipartisan starting point, the PROMISE Act-I want to see, I hope, a bipartisan vote to set up that procedure when we return in September [or] October of this year so that we get something done and give peace of mind to the people who are depending on Social Security for their future."

Video of Durbin's floor speech is available here.

Audio of Durbin's floor speech is available here.

Footage of Durbin's floor speech is available herefor TV Stations.

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