Senate Finance Panel Begins Discussion on Fixing Social Security

Published in RINewsToday on August 17, 2026

Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI) is projected to reach insolvency by late 2032, triggering an automatic 22% across-the-board benefit cut if Congress fails to act, according to the 2026 Social Security Trustees Report released June 9. The clock is ticking — fewer than 2,300 days remain.

What would that mean for older Americans? Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), put a dollar figure on the potential impact in his August 5 testimony before the Senate Finance Committee. Acomparable benefit reduction imposed today, he said, would mean an average loss of about $500 a month for beneficiaries.

For a typical newly retired couple, that could translate into an annual loss of roughly $12,000 in Social Security income — a substantial hit for households that depend on the program to pay for housing, food, utilities, health care and other basic expenses. Goldwein’s testimony underscores what the Trustees’ numbers mean beyond the percentages: a future across-the-board cut could have a very real impact on retirees’ daily lives.

Senate Finance Panel Takes Up Social Security’s Future

Just nine days before Social Security’s 91st birthday on Aug. 15, the Senate Committee on Finance held an Aug. 5 hearing, “Exploring Process Approaches for Addressing Social Security Solvency,” to spotlight the program’s looming financial challenges and explore possible legislative approaches. The hearing brought together policy experts and advocacy organizations to discuss how Congress might move toward a solution.

The more than two-hour hearing examined the merits of using a commission versus the regular legislative process. Senators and witnesses also discussed increasing revenue from higher earners, raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap, adjusting benefits, and changing the retirement age.

Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) opened the hearing by warning that Social Security’s OASI Trust Fund is projected to be exhausted in late 2032. If Congress fails to act, incoming program revenues would be sufficient to pay only about 78% of scheduled benefits, he said.

The last comprehensive congressional effort to address Social Security’s solvency took place more than 40 years ago, culminating in the Social Security Amendments of 1983. Signed by President Ronald Reagan, the bipartisan legislation gradually raised the full retirement age, subjected some higher-income Social Security benefits to federal income taxation and increased payroll taxes to strengthen the program’s finances.

Crapo pointed to the 1983 reforms as an example of how an outside commission might help break legislative gridlock. He also cited his participation in a later bipartisan fiscal commission, commonly known as the Greenspan Commission, whose recommendations ultimately failed to win the support needed to move forward.

Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) challenged the idea of creating another commission, arguing that Congress should take responsibility for solving the problem rather than sending it to an outside panel.

“Instead of ‘talking about talking,’ this body should get to work on finding a resolution to the Social Security solvency challenge and having that debate in public view,” Wyden said.

Crapo responded that the hearing was not intended to promote a specific proposal but to examine a broad range of ideas.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) pushed back against Democratic criticism that Republicans were seeking to cut benefits, saying Congress needs to be willing to consider different approaches to the problem.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) took a much harsher view of the program, calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and arguing that money collected from taxpayers has already been spent.

Rhode Island’s Whitehouse Calls for Answers

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse pressed Republicans for a specific plan to address Social Security’s finances.

“Where’s the Republican proposal? Where is it? It doesn’t exist,”

Whitehouse charged, arguing that Republicans were unwilling to publicly embrace proposals that could result in benefit reductions.

Whitehouse said Democrats have legislation that would make Social Security solvent “for as far as the actuarial eye can see” without cutting benefits.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) focused on raising more revenue from higher-income Americans by increasing the amount of earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax.

Warren noted that the payroll tax currently applies only up to a certain level of earnings, meaning high-income workers pay Social Security taxes on a smaller percentage of their total income than most middle-income workers.

Sanders framed the issue in simpler terms, asking whether wealthy Americans should pay the same percentage of their income into Social Security as firefighters and nurses.

But not every senator framed the debate in partisan terms.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) observed that conversations about Social Security often “immediately” become fear-mongering, with the discussion centered on taking benefits away.

“We’re actually trying to be able to get to a point where no one loses benefits,” Lankford said, noting that the goal should be long-term stabilization.

Lankford acknowledged that having a “grown-up conversation” about stabilizing Social Security’s finances and resolving the problem remains a real challenge.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) also called for bipartisan action.  “We’ve got to fix this and that means working together. There’s a lot of great ideas out there. If we would just make this a focus and a priority, we can get something done,” she said.

Their comments underscored a central question facing Congress: Can lawmakers move beyond the political rhetoric surrounding Social Security and find enough common ground to actually fix the program?

AARP: Keep Social Security at the Table

Nancy A. LeaMond, AARP’s executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, questioned whether another special commission is the best way forward.

“The history of special commissions is littered with very good intentions and failed results,” LeaMond told the committee. She argued that Social Security’s future should be addressed directly by Congress, which has jurisdiction over the program and a long history of tackling difficult Social Security issues.

LeaMond reminded senators that Social Security remains the foundation of retirement security for millions of Americans. She noted that it provides more than half of household income for 43% of older American households and provides at least 90% of income for nearly 12 million Americans age 65 and older.

Social Security’s impact also extends beyond individual beneficiaries, LeaMond said. “Every dollar paid in Social Security benefits generates two dollars of economic activity, supporting 12.2 million jobs and $2 trillion in economic output each year,” she said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) acknowledged AARP’s efforts to protect Social Security, including its television advertising campaign warning against benefit cuts. But Grassley urged AARP and other organizations to do more to educate the public about the looming automatic reductions.

“We’ve got to wake this entire nation up to the fact that there’s going to be 22% cuts if we don’t do something right now,” Grassley said.

Goldwein told the committee that Social Security’s financial problems can be addressed if Congress begins the process rather than continuing to delay action.

In his testimony, Goldwein described CRFB’s Trust Fund Solutions initiative, which offers potential approaches for restoring Social Security’s solvency. Among the ideas discussed are changes to the taxation of benefits, expanding the payroll tax base, limiting benefits for some high earners, and encouraging longer workforce participation.

The dollar figure Goldwein cited — an average reduction of about $500 a month under a comparable benefit cut — puts the Trustees’ warning into perspective. For retirees already struggling to keep pace with rising housing, food and health care costs, losing another $500 a month would not be an abstract budget number. It could mean difficult choices between paying bills, buying groceries or filling a prescription.

Charles Blahous of the Mercatus Center also called for Congress to move quickly, arguing that the most important part of Social Security reform may simply be getting the process started before continued delays make the problem harder and more expensive to solve.

Rebecca D. Vallas, CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance, told the committee that the decisions Congress makes about Social Security will rank among the most important work lawmakers undertake in generations.

Vallas cited a survey of more than 2,200 Americans conducted by NASI in partnership with AARP, the National Institute on Retirement Security and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The survey found that 85% of respondents favored preventing benefit reductions or increasing benefits, even if that would require raising taxes on some or all Americans. Only 15% preferred benefit reductions to tax increases.

Support for raising revenue rather than cutting benefits crossed party, income, education, and generational lines, Vallas said.

A Final Note…

“Social Security is too important to millions of Americans for Congress to take shortcuts or empower fast-track commissions to do their job. This is an opportunity to show that Washington can work, that it can deliver the results that the American people are demanding, and that it can achieve this goal without waiting until the very last minute to act,” says submitted testimony by Max Richtman, President & CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

The message from the hearing was clear: Social Security’s financial problems are real, the clock is ticking, and Congress has no shortage of policy ideas.

What remains uncertain is whether Democrats and Republicans can put aside their philosophical differences long enough to agree on a bipartisan solution.

After 43 years and 4 months since the enactment of Social Security reforms in 1983, the stakes are simply too high for millions of older Americans to wait much longer.  Lawmakers must roll up their sleeves and get the work done.

Unpaid Caregiving Takes a Toll on Retirement Security

Published in RINewsToday on August 10, 2026

Unpaid family caregiving is often viewed as a labor of love. But a new national study shows that caring for a loved one can also come with a significant financial price — one that may well follow caregivers right into their retirement years.

On July 22, the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that studies employee benefits, released its 42-page report, “Caregivers and Retirement: Findings From the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey.” The report examines how unpaid caregiving affects financial security, employment, health and retirement planning.

Not surprisingly, the findings paint a very troubling picture. Caregivers are more likely than non-caregivers to report lower financial assets, debt problems, poorer health and less confidence about having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement.

The report is part of a broader caregiving project being developed by EBRI and Greenwald Research. The goal is to provide employers with educational resources and strategies to help employee caregivers better prepare for retirement while managing the all-consuming demands of caring for a family member.

A Growing Retirement Security Issue

The 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey, now in its 36th year, found that nearly three in 10 Americans age 25 and older are unpaid caregivers.

For purposes of the study, caregivers were defined as people who provided unpaid care for an adult or child during the previous 12 months in a non-institutional setting and helped the care recipient with at least one activity of daily living or instrumental activity of daily living.

The findings were discussed during a July 22 EBRI and Greenwald Research webinar featuring Craig Copeland, EBRI’s director of wealth benefits research; Lisa Greenwald, CEO of Greenwald Research; Kerry Sette of Voya Financial; and Cynthia Hutchins of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Throughout the discussion, the message was quite clear: caregiving is not simply a family or health issue. It must also be viewed as a retirement security issue.

“Caregiving is often discussed as a family, health or workplace issue, but this research shows it is also an important retirement security issue,” Copeland and Greenwald said in announcing the report.

“Caregivers are doing many of the same planning activities as non-caregivers, but they are more likely to face debt, lower assets, mental health strain and lower confidence about their long-term financial future,” they noted.

The 2026 report builds on an earlier 2023 EBRI/Greenwald Research study that also examined caregivers. Comparing the two surveys, Copeland said caregivers continue to fall behind their non-caregiving counterparts.

Taking a Look at the Key Findings

Caregiving can take a toll on health. Only 36% of caregivers said their health was excellent or very good, compared with 45% of non-caregivers. Caregivers were also less likely to have household incomes of $75,000 or more — 53%, compared with 62% of non-caregivers. Women represented 61% of caregivers, compared with 47% of non-caregivers. 

Caregivers have fewer financial resources to build wealth. Thirty-four percent of caregivers reported having less than $10,000 in savings and investments, compared with 25% of non-caregivers. Debt was also more likely to be a problem: 69% of caregivers said debt was a problem, compared with 57% of non-caregivers.

Caregiving can hit the family wallet. Thirty-four percent of caregiving workers and 20% of caregiving retirees said they provide financial support to the person they care for. In addition, 20% of caregiving workers and 15% of caregiving retirees said they had taken on new or additional debt as a result of caregiving.

The emotional toll is substantial. Sixty-four percent of working caregivers and 52% of caregiving retirees said caregiving had negatively affected their mental health. Among working caregivers, the financial tasks most affected were saving for emergencies (56%) and working the hours they wanted or needed to work (54%).

The financial pressures of caregiving can make it harder for people to prepare for their own futures. Caregivers in both the lower- and upper-income groups were more likely than non-caregivers with similar incomes to lack confidence that they would have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement.

Among households earning less than $35,000, 75% of caregivers said they were not confident they would have enough money for retirement, compared with 55% of non-caregivers. Among households earning $75,000 or more, 32% of caregivers lacked confidence, compared with 23% of non-caregivers.

Caregivers were also more likely to worry about the impact of an economic recession, rising housing costs, and having to provide care for a loved one with a health condition or disability.

When Caregiving Changes Retirement Plans

For some caregivers, the demands of providing care can even change when they leave the workforce.

The survey found that caregiving retirees were more likely than non-caregiving retirees to have retired earlier than planned. Among those who retired earlier than expected, caregivers were more likely to say they did so because they had to care for a spouse or another family member.

Caregiving retirees were also more likely to describe their current retirement lifestyle as fair rather than excellent. They were more likely to say their retirement lifestyle was not what they had envisioned and that several retirement expenses were higher than expected.

Higher-income caregivers also lagged behind non-caregivers with similar incomes in completing several important retirement-planning tasks, including calculating how much they needed to save, saving for retirement, planning for emergency expenses and estimating future health care costs.

The report points to a number of ways employers can help working caregivers, including flexible scheduling, remote-work opportunities, caregiver resources, education and benefits designed to reduce some of the financial pressures associated with caregiving.

Lisa Greenwald, CEO of Greenwald Research, says caregiving creates financial, health and social-emotional pressures at different stages of life — while people are working, preparing for retirement and after they retire.

For employers, she says, recognizing these challenges can help them provide the flexibility and support caregivers need to remain productive at work while continuing to save for retirement.

Having Their Say…

Washington insider Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, agrees with the report’s findings about the financial and personal pressures facing caregivers.

Unless unpaid family caregivers receive greater support through respite care or paid Home- and Community-Based Services, Adcock says, caregiving responsibilities can take a toll on their physical and emotional health.

He also points to another concern not fully captured by the EBRI survey: working-age caregivers who leave the workforce to care for a loved one can end up with lower Social Security benefits because the program’s benefit formula is based in part on a worker’s earnings history.

That is one reason Adcock supports a Social Security caregiver credit.

He urges Congress to pass the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2026 (S. 4396/H.R. 8490). The legislation was introduced by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in the Senate, with Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) introducing the House companion measure.

The legislation would allow qualifying unpaid caregivers to receive up to five years of deemed wages for purposes of calculating Social Security benefits. To qualify, a caregiver would generally have to provide at least 80 hours of care per month to a dependent child under age 12 or a chronically dependent relative.

The bills remain in committee. S. 4396 was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, while H.R. 8490 was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The issue is particularly important here in Rhode Island, where thousands of family members provide unpaid care that helps loved ones remain in their homes.

Maureen Maigret, policy advisor with the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI), says the EBRI findings confirm what advocates have been seeing for years.

“Caregiving takes a significant physical, emotional, and financial toll on our unpaid caregivers,” she says.

Maigret notes that Rhode Island caregivers provide thousands of hours of unpaid care that can allow people to remain at home longer, potentially delaying or avoiding more costly nursing facility care.

SACRI is pushing for policies to strengthen support for caregivers, including expanding the state’s Temporary Caregiver Insurance program, adequately funding respite services, and creating a state caregiver tax credit.

Rhode Island has already taken steps to support working family caregivers through its Temporary Caregiver Insurance program. Aging advocates, however, continue to push for expanded eligibility and additional weeks of paid leave.

Taking a Close Look at AARP’s Caregiver Study

After a media briefing last year, AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) published a report, Caregiving in the U.S. 2025, that warns of a looming crisis that will impact America’s 63 million caregivers, an increase of 45% over the past decade. The report, released June 24, 2025, noted that caregivers are at a “crisis point.” Nearly half reported major financial problems, one in five reported fair or poor health, and more troubling, nearly a quarter felt completely alone.

One in five caregivers report poor health; a quarter are taking on debt due to caregiving. Half report negative financial impact due to caregiving, and one in five cannot afford basic needs like food.

EBRI’s new survey adds an important retirement-focused perspective to an ongoing national conversation about unpaid caregiving.  The research shows how caregiving can affect not only today’s household decisions but a person’s long-term financial security.

And that may well be the most important takeaway from the new EBRI report.

Millions of Americans step up to the plate when a parent, spouse, child or other loved one needs help. They do it because it is what families do. But caregiving should not mean that the person providing that care has to sacrifice his or her own financial future.

Like AARP’s 2025 caregiver study, EBRI’s report examines how caregiving responsibilities are associated with retirement confidence, debt, savings, financial stress, workplace needs and long-term retirement preparation among workers and retirees.

The EBRI research, complementing AARP’s definitive caregiving research, makes it clear that unpaid caregiving carries consequences that can extend far beyond the time spent providing care. For many Americans, the price may be paid not only today, but again when they reach retirement.

A Final Note…

EBRI’s Copeland points out: “The survey results clearly show caregiving has significant impacts on both workers and retirees, not only now but in the future as well. While you may not be a caregiver currently, if you have parents or children, you are likely to be one in the future. Thus, preparing for this need, or better handling current caregiving needs, can make a huge difference in retirement preparations and current expenses. Caregiving can take a toll on all aspects of life, so anything individuals can do to plan for it or better educate themselves can foster a caregiver’s well-being, both financially and emotionally.”
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The 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey was conducted online from January 2 through January 28, 2026, among 2,544 Americans age 25 and older. It included a general population sample of 2,052 people — 1,007 workers and 1,045 retirees — plus an oversample of 492 caregivers. The final analysis included 701 caregiving workers and 305 caregiving retirees.

The 2026 survey was supported by the American College of Financial Services, American Funds/Capital Group, Bank of America, Bright Horizons, CareScout, Edward Jones, Empower, Fidelity Investments, FINRA Foundation, Jackson National, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Mercer, Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, Protective, Prudential/PGIM, T. Rowe Price and Voya Financial.

To watch the EBRI Webinar and for a copy of the slides, go to https://www.ebri.org/publications/webinars/past-webinars

To read AARP’s 2025 Caregiver Study, go to Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 – AARP Research Report

US Senate Aging Panel Tackles AI Scams 

Published in RINewsToday on August 3, 2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just changing how we work and communicate. It is rapidly transforming how criminals steal money from older Americans. Last week, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging examined how AI-generated scams—from cloned audio to realistic deepfake videos—are creating an alarming new wave of fraud powered by artificial intelligence.

The afternoon hearing in room SD-562 dealt with AI-driven scams and financial exploitation. Since AI was introduced, the world of scams has changed significantly because criminals can now produce highly convincing deepfake videos and imitate voices with very little effort or technical knowledge, making them even harder to detect.

Taking a Closer Look at Computer-Generated Scams

The 83-minute hearing, held on Wednesday, July 29, featured testimony from victims who experienced devastating voice-cloning and deepfake fraud, medical professionals whose identities were weaponized, and experts from banking, cybersecurity, and consumer protection sectors who offered suggestions on combating it.

Scams have advanced far beyond annoying phone calls and deceiving emails,” says Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL) in his opening remarks.  “AI can also be used to clone someone’s voice, a terrifying development that has been used in heartbreaking and evil ways to impersonate a loved one and deceive their family,” he says.

The Florida senator cautions that scams, fraud, and financial exploitation are now the main problem confronting seniors across the country. “With the development of AI, scammers have obtained new tools for carrying out their criminal activities, and we need to adjust our response to these emerging threats,” he stated.

Like Scott, Ranking Member Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) expressed concern about the use of AI in scamming older adults.  “By making it easier for bad actors to clone voices, fabricate images, and deceive targets, AI has facilitated an alarming rise in financial scams that rob our seniors of their hard-earned savings and personal information,” she said.

To combat the growing threat of technology-assisted fraud and scams, Senators Smith and Gillibrand called for strengthening the federal government’s ability to crack down on scammers and for Congress to pass legislation to promote the responsible development of AI.

 Personal Stories, Calls on Congress to Tackle Issue

Dr. David Amron, the founder and medical director of the Roxbury Institute in Los Angeles, California, and founder and chair of the Lipedema, told lawmakers how he discovered that scammers in the summer of 2025 had taken real footage from his YouTube channel and combined it with digitally fabricated likenesses and the voice of a colleague as well as AI generated celebrity images and stolen media logos, to create a polished advertisement that appeared to be entirely legitimate.

Dr. Amron, who has treated patients with lipedema for more than three decades, testified that his office began receiving calls from people who watched a convincing video showing him endorsing a so-called “miracle” lipedema cream. Several had already purchased the product before realizing it was fraudulent.

Even after an 11-day battle with Meta, a Today Show investigation ultimately led to the removal of the fraudulent video. Dr. Amron’s frustration was that it kept resurfacing, underscoring how persistent and difficult it is to remove AI-enabled fraud schemes.

“The consequences extend far beyond financial loss,” remarked Dr. Amron, noting that patients may delay getting needed medical care to treat a progressive disease (like lipedema), placing their trust in unproven products and fraudulent services.

During the hearing, Dr. Amron urged lawmakers to strengthen protections against computer-generated impersonations, improve accountability for those who create and distribute them, and ensure laws keep pace with AI technology.  He argued that pressure must be placed on platforms that host fraudulent content, stating they “have to have consequences.”

While Dr. Amron described how criminals easily use technology-assisted fraud to exploit public trust in medical professionals, the next witness described how voice cloning took a devastating emotional toll on her family.

Deborah Del Mastro, a Martinez, California resident, recounted a phone call she received last May during breakfast.  This cloned call of her daughter crying and apologizing, from an unrecognized phone number, began a five-and-a-half-hour ordeal.

“I am usually very, very calm and collected in the face of crisis,” Mastro  told the Senators, noting that she is always the person who “runs to the fire, now away from it.” She was totally convinced that she heard her daughter’s voice.

The veteran, living on a Social Security check and performance income made from acting and singing, with Mastro and her husband pulling a total of $ 5,400 cash from four separate transactions from MoneyGram and Western Union to send to Mexico.

Local police told Mastro that the “ransom” funds are unrecoverable.  A detective told her that he “sees these by the hundreds.”

Education is key to protecting people from AI scams, asserts Mastro, telling the Senate panel that there is an absence of publicly available resources on how to protect yourself from AI-driven scams as opposed to the abundance of resources on how to use the emerging technology.

Financial institutions are also witnessing the rapid evolution of AI-driven scams.  Paul Benda, the Executive Vice President for Risk, Fraud, and Cybersecurity of the American Bankers Association (ABA), describes how criminals are using AI to expand the scale and sophistication of traditional scams.

Benda, who chairs the ABA Fraud Coordination Group, reframes the new, evolving  AI-driven scams not as a story of misused technology but as an industrial one.

 “Generative AI is not replacing traditional scams. It is industrializing,” Benda asserts.

 Benda explained that criminals are now using chatbots to initiate conversations before seamlessly handing victims off to human scammers once they become engaged. A survey of 14 large banks found that bank impersonation scams rose 150% from 2024 to 2025, Banta said, illustrating this growing threat.

Benda encouraged Congress to establish a national office for scams and fraud prevention, describing it as necessary to provide clear and national leadership to attack this problem.  He also called for stronger telecom safeguards to keep criminals off calling networks and to restore trust in caller ID. He argued that if a name and number appear on caller ID, the telecom provider should be held accountable if it is accurate.

At this point, the hearing turned from personal and industry experiences to the broader cybersecurity challenges posed by this rapidly advancing technology.

Cybersecurity expert Matthew F. Ferraro, a Partner at Crowell & Moring LLP and a former official at the Department of Human Services, personally testified at this hearing, noting that his views do not represent his firm or clients.

Ferraro argued that “deepfakes can supercharge scams and cyber frauds, especially targeting senior citizens.”  According to an industry report, financial losses from deepfake-enabled fraud exceeded $200 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Citing another study, Ferraro further illustrated the cost of AI-generated fraud. Consulting firm Deloitte expects that generative AI could enable fraud losses to reach $40 billion in the United States by 2027, he said.

In his testimony, Ferraro pointed out a successful national educational model to combat AI scams.  Finland has integrated media literacy and AI-media spotting training into educational programs for both young and old.

Ferraro urged lawmakers to promote AI detection tools and provenance technology that tags media as human-created or AI-generated, comparing the potential to email spam filters operating in the background.

Ferraro concluded that stronger coordination among federal and state governments, law enforcement, and the private sector is essential for policymakers to successfully attack this problem and stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated fraud operations.

Holding Big Tech Accountable

While several witnesses focused on prevention and consumer education, another argued that Congress must also hold technology companies more accountable.

“I want to be clear that the devastating deception we’re seeing is not a result of technological ineptitude for older users…but rather a crisis emboldened by the biggest tech companies we know paired with a failure to rein them in,” charges Ben Winters, Director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America.

 “This is not an issue of personal responsibility, but something Congress is uniquely positioned to address,” says Winters.

Winters urged Congress to reject any legislative proposals that would prohibit states from regulating technology or limit tech company liability – characterizing such proposals as being “pushed by tech companies right now.”

Winters also recommended passing comprehensive data privacy laws with data minimization requirements and bans on the sale of sensitive data – specifically citing the practice of selling lists of people battling Alzheimer’s for targeting purposes as something that must be prohibited.

Winters supported the other witnesses’ call for sustained oversight of enforcement agencies to ensure that the federal government remains totally focused on upstream prevention of scams – “choking out the scam upstream, not just chasing individual scammers after the fact.”

The hearing also underscored that no family, not even a U.S. Senator’s family, is immune from these increasingly convincing scams.

Senate Aging Committee Member, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) disclosed that his mother-in-law was scammed by a voice clone impersonating his granddaughter, sending $10,000 to someone claiming to be stranded in Europe.

Report Sheds Light on AI-Driven Scams, Impact

At this hearing, Chairman Scott (R-FL) and Ranking Member Gillibrand released a joint report: Artificial Intelligence & Older Americans: Confronting New Threats, Unlocking New Opportunities. The document details both the potential benefits of AI and the unique financial risks it poses to older Americans.

The 25-page report cited research, shedding light on the negatives of this emerging technology. Americans reported nearly $21 billion in cybercrime losses in 2026, with $893 million tied to AI-enabled scams across more than 22,000 complaints. More than 82 percent of phishing emails are now created with the help of AI.

Recognizing warning signs early can potentially prevent huge financial losses from AI-enabled fraud. Any unsolicited contact by phone, text, email, or social media should be treated with immediate skepticism, regardless of how professional it looks or how urgent its message appears, the report warns.

Slow down and pause before acting, the report recommends. Review your financial accounts regularly for unauthorized transactions and set up transaction alerts through your financial institution.  For protection, the report notes that the Federal Trade Commission recommends placing a free credit freeze on all three major credit card bureaus.

Any payment requests can be a red flag for a scam. Any request for payment by gift card, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or cash is a clear indicator of fraud, the report notes.

AI-simulated threats using deepfakes and voice cloning can replicate a loved one’s voice or image to perpetrate financial fraud.  The report suggests that a family code word or verbal safe phrase be used to verify the identity when a family member appears to be calling in.  AI voice cloning or deepfakes.

Finally, the Senate Aging Committee report stresses the importance of reporting fraud, recommending that victims contact the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-336.

On a positive note, older persons using AI company devices experienced a 95 percent drop in feelings of loneliness, along with substantial gains in overall well-being. This technology can also potentially reduce preventable adverse drug reactions, lower hospitalization costs, and improve the quality of life of millions of older persons managing multiple chronic conditions.

Increased efficiency through the use of AI scribes saves physicians time on administrative paperwork, increasing productivity and allowing them to spend more quality time with their older patients.

Meanwhile, AI use in clinical decision-making can improve sepsis detection, improve cancer diagnosis, and help the physician understand multiple drug interactions, all of which have a significant impact on providing care to older adults.

Finally, the report notes that AI use to reduce falls, to track vital signs, medication adherence, sleep patterns, and activity levels can help older adults age in place.

As lawmakers continue debating how best to regulate AI, one message clearly emerged repeatedly during the hearing: technology will continue evolving, but awareness remains the strongest defense. For older Americans, taking a moment to verify an unexpected phone call, text, or email may well be the simplest—and most effective—way to avoid becoming the next victim.

To watch the Senate Aging Committee AI hearing, go to https://www.aging.senate.gov/hearings/the-ai-deception-machine-deepfakes-chatbots-and-the-new-frontier-of-senior-fraud

To read the Joint Senate Aging Committee AI report, go to FINAL VERSION AI Report.