Tag Archives for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

43 Days to Reauthorize the Older Americans Act

Published in RINewsToday on August 18, 2025

The clock is ticking. Funding for the Older Americans Act (OAA) is currently secured only through September 30, 2025—that’s just 43 days away. Unless Congress acts to reauthorize the law or approve new appropriations before the start of FY 2026 on October 1, funding could lapse. A bipartisan effort must be made on Capitol Hill to ensure both reauthorization and the FY 2026 budget are addressed, avoiding any interruption in services for America’s older adults.

Last reauthorized in 2020, the OAA expired during the 118th Congress. S. 4776, spearheaded by Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the committee’s ranking member, passed the Senate by unanimous consent last year. However, the House failed to pass a companion measure due to unrelated political disagreements.

Two months ago, Chairman Cassidy and nine co-sponsors reintroduced the OAA Reauthorization Act of 2025. The 91-page bill, S. 2120, would renew funding and strengthen services for older Americans. It was referred to the Senate HELP Committee the day it was introduced, where hearings, markups, and a committee vote are expected. If approved, it will move to the full Senate for consideration. As of press time, a companion bill had not yet been introduced in the House.

Chairman Cassidy’s co-sponsors include Senators Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY, Rick Scott (R-FL), chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

Since its passage in 1965, the OAA has provided vital nutrition, social, and health services to millions of seniors. The legislation was originally sponsored by Rep. John E. Fogarty (D-RI) in the House and Sen. Lister Hill (D-AL) in the Senate, and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 14, 1965.

Strengthening Programs for the Future

Although S. 2120 closely mirrors last year’s S. 4776, there are notable differences. The legislation would reauthorize OAA programs through FY 2030 and increase funding by 18% over the next four years. It also includes measures to promote innovation, strengthen program integrity, and provide better support for family caregivers and direct care workers. The bill aims to improve services for Tribal elders and older adults with disabilities, ensuring these populations can remain active and supported in their communities.

One key provision strengthens the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP). The bill would establish a full-time National Director position and require the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study of state ombudsman programs. This study would assess program effectiveness, staffing challenges, recommendations for improvement, and the adequacy of current staff-to-bed ratios. The legislation also calls for updated training standards for long-term care ombudsman volunteers.

The National Family Caregiver Support Program would also be expanded. The bill encourages easier access to caregiver services, removes barriers to obtaining help, and ensures supports are both accessible and practical. It specifically requires trauma-informed services and elder abuse prevention programs to be available, helping caregivers better manage challenges in their roles.

On elder abuse prevention, S. 2120 authorizes a clearinghouse for best practices, focusing on legal and protective services to strengthen state ombudsman programs, adult protective services, and related legal supports.

Bipartisan Support and Legislative Momentum

“The Older Americans Act is crucial in helping American seniors live healthy and independent lives in the settings they choose,” said Chairman Cassidy. “This legislation strengthens these programs, ensuring they meet the needs of older Americans now and in the future,” he says.

Sen. Scott also underscored the urgency of passing S. 2120 in a released statement. “I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan legislation to strengthen support for America’s older adults and reaffirm our commitment to helping them enjoy their golden years with dignity and independence,” he said. “As Chair of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, I understand how essential it is that more than 59 million older Americans have access to critical services made possible through the Older Americans Act. Our seniors have spent their lives building and serving this country, and this bill is one way we ensure they continue to be supported, respected, and valued,” he added.

“The OAA has been a lifeline for American seniors since its passage over half a century ago,” said Sen. Gillibrand in a statement on June 18. “This landmark legislation helps our nation’s seniors thrive by supporting programs that provide nutrition assistance, home-delivered and congregate meals, transportation, caregiver support, disease prevention, and more. We owe it to seniors to continue funding these programs so they can age with dignity and respect. As ranking member of the Senate Aging Committee, I am firmly committed to getting this bill passed with bipartisan support.”

Sen. Sanders’s statement echoed that message, highlighting the broad scope of OAA-funded services: “The Older Americans Act provides federal funding for many essential programs, including combating loneliness and isolation, job training, protections from abuse, rides to the doctor and grocery store, disease prevention, caregiver support, and help for older adults to live independently at home. Not only does the Act save lives and ease human suffering, it saves money. We can waste billions on emergency room visits and unnecessary hospital stays, or we can provide seniors with the resources they need to live healthier, more dignified lives.”

“The failure to reauthorize the OAA in 2024 had tragic consequences in 2025. One in particular was the elimination of the Administration of Community Living which runs OAA programs.  Also proposals (since rejected) to end funding for Adult Protective Services and ombudsman programs. When you are in legislative limbo bad stuff can happen. It’s time for that to end,” says Robert “Bob” Blancato, serving as National Coordinator of the bipartisan 3,000-member Elder Justice Coalition, the Executive Director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs and National Coordinator of the Defeat Malnutrition.

Advocacy and the Call to Action

National advocacy groups—including Consumer Voice, Argentum, the National Council on Aging, the National Association of Development Organizations, USAging, and the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs—are urging swift passage of S. 2120. These organizations stress that delaying re-authorization would put millions of vulnerable seniors at risk of losing essential supports.

With the many benefits the OAA delivers to Rhode Island’s older adults—and considering that the late Rep. John Fogarty of Rhode Island played a pivotal role in securing passage of the original legislation in 1965—it is only fitting that the state’s current senators take a leading role today. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) should cosponsor S. 2120 and work closely with their Senate colleagues to ensure its passage. Since there is currently no companion measure in the House, Rhode Island’s Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo must take the initiative—by urging their colleagues to introduce one, or by stepping forward themselves to lead the effort.

Congress must act before September 30 to prevent a lapse in funding. The well-being of millions of older Americans—and their ability to age in place at home with dignity — depends on it.

Historic Social Security Legislation Awaits President’s Signature

Published in RINewsToday on Dec. 30, 2024

After 40 years, a polarized Congress actually worked together on behalf of millions of Americans with public pensions to push through bipartisan legislation repealing two Social Security provisions that would benefit these individuals. Just past midnight in the early hours of Saturday, on Dec. 21, 2024, the U.S. Senate took up S. 597, a companion measure to H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, repealing unpopular WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) & GPO (Government Pension Offset) provisions titles in the Social Security program.   

The House had overwhelmingly passed H.R. 82, introduced last month introduced by Reps. Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).

The Senate companion measure, authored by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), overwhelmingly passed without amendment, by a Yea-Nay vote, 76-20 (with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) not voting) and now goes to President Biden to be signed into law. At press time, H.R. 82 has not been signed and the President has until Dec. 31 to sign or veto the bill.

Before the historic Senate vote, at a Dec. 16 meeting with Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and Executive Director Jim Pasco met with President-elect Donald J. Trump at his home in Mar-a-Lago, President elect Donald Trump announced his support for the upper chambers’ passage of the “Social Security Fairness Act”— the “FOP’s top priority.”

Earlier this year, Collins and Brown had called on Senate leadership to immediately bring their legislation, which had 62 Senate co-sponsors—above the margin needed for passage—to the Senate floor for a vote. Collins held the first Senate hearing on this policy in 2003 as Chair of the Senate Government Affairs Committee. She, along with the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, first introduced the Social Security Fairness Act in 2005. 

Their bipartisan efforts pushed the legislative Social Security fix across the goal line, at the end of the second session of the 118th Congress.  For Brown, who lost his bid for re-election in November, passage of S. 597 was a bitter sweet moment for him as he leaves the U.S. Senate after serving as a U.S. senator from Ohio since 2007. 

In a Nutshell… 

According to Graves, WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security.  This financially impacts educators who do not earn Social Security in public schools but who work part-time or during the summer in jobs covered by Social Security, who have reduced benefits, even though they pay into the system just like others, Graves says.

Likewise, the GPO affects the spousal benefits of people who work as federal, state, or local government employees — including police officers, firefighters, and educators — if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduces by two-thirds the benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension, added Graves. 

According to the National Education Association (NEA), more than 2.8 million public sector employees in 26 states were impacted by GPO and WEP. Educators were affected in 15 of those states, because they pay into their state pension system, but not into Social Security, says NEA. 

The WEP currently impacts approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries, and the GPO impacts nearly 800,000 retirees.

Rally calls for passage of H.R. 82, gets Majority Senate Leader’s attention

Before Congress left Capitol Hill for recess, Graves and Spanberger, the primary sponsors of H.R. 82, had filed a discharge petition for their Social Security Fairness Act — which secured the required 218 signatures needed  to force a floor vote in the U.S. House. On Nov. 12, 2024,  a bipartisan majority voted 327 to 74, under suspension of rules to pass the legislation, sending it to the upper legislative chamber for consideration.

A week before the Senate vote on Dec. 21th, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association along with unions representing fire fighters, teachers, police officers and other public service workers rallied at 11:30 a.m., at the Upper Senate Park at the U.S. Capitol, in pouring rain outside the Capitol, calling for passage of H.R. 82. Joining the rally, Majority Senate leader Chuck Schumer.  “I’m here to tell you all today – we are going to call a vote on repealing WEP and GPO,” he said, calling the two Social Security titles “unfair and un-American.”  

 After the rally, Graves quickly issued this statement:  “The Senate Majority Leader has called for a vote on our bill H.R. 82 – provided he gets the necessary 60 votes to get it to the floor. More than 60 Senators support our Social Security Fairness Act. In the House we have led the effort for years to build the winning coalition, resulting in the most cosponsored bill – the most popular bill – in the Congress. We defied the odds and fought back sneak attacks to successfully complete a discharge petition that resulted in the first vote in history to repeal the WEP and GPO. The heavy lifting is done. The path to victory could not be clearer. A WEP-GPO repeal could be in the stockings of millions of public service retirees this Christmas. Pass H.R. 82 now,” he said.   

GOP lawmakers express concerns over financial impact

In response to a request from Chuck Grassley, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had provided the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee with its legislative analysis. The findings showed that the elimination of the WEP and GPO, as specified in H.R. 82, would permanently increase outlays for scheduled Social Security benefits—that is, the amounts that the program would pay if it continued to pay benefits as scheduled under current law, regardless of whether the program’s two trust funds had sufficient balances to cover those payments. That increase in Social Security benefits would drive the program’s spending even further above its revenues than it is already projected to be under current law. CBO estimates that the changes will cost nearly $ 200 billion over a 10-year period.

Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Grassley (R-IA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) and 16 other Republican Senators opposed passage, expressing strong concerns about the bill’s cost. This apprehension reinforced by the recently released CBO analysis.

Citing a CBO analysis of S. 82, the Republican Senators were concerned that the legislative proposal would reduce the Social Security trust fund by an additional $200 billion during the next decade, moving up the insolvency date by six months.

On the Senate floor, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said the bill’s title made it sound like “motherhood and apple pie,” quipping “who could be against Social Security fairness?” But he argued it wasn’t the right approach to address the problem.

However, 29 Republican Senators, including Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), were not concerned about the CBO analysis, voting for passage of the legislative proposal. 

Following the Senate vote, in a video on X, Kennedy stated: “Social Security is not free. People pay into it. The money we “spent” today in this bill – all we did is give it back to the people who earned it. Today was a good day. It was a good day for fairness, it was a good day for the Social Security system, and a good day for the people of Louisiana – even if you aren’t affected by these two unfair provisions of the Social Security Act, all Louisianians I know believe in fairness. Right is right and wrong is wrong, and I think we did the right thing here, and I’m pleased.” 

With the dust settling after the Senate vote, after 40 years of trying to fix a Social Security benefits issue impacting public sector workers, Democratic and Republican lawmakers put aside political differences and finally fixed the pressing policy issue.

Celebrating the historic passage 

Following the Senate vote for passage of H.R. 82, the National Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Fire Fighters, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, National Education Association, and Peace Officers Research Association of California applauded this legislation being sent to the president’s desk to enhance the fairness of Social Security to public workers. 

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) commended the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act, legislation he cosponsored to eliminate two policies. “Thousands of Rhode Islanders who receive government pensions but also contributed to Social Security through private-sector employment stand to benefit from the legislation,” he says.

“I’ve worked with my colleague Sherrod Brown for years to pass this legislation in order to ensure that millions of teachers, postal workers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and other dedicated civil servants get the benefits they have earned, says U.S. Senator Jack Reed. “I’m glad we were able to finally deliver this correction for millions of hardworking Americans and I’m committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security to ensure all Americans are able to retire with the dignity and financial security they have earned,” he said.

Max Richman, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) called for passage of this bill because it because it removes an unfairness in the retirement system by allowing teachers, firefighters, and police officers (among others) and their families to collect Social Security benefits. 

Before the Senate vote, NCPSSM announced its opposition of any amendment that diluted this legislation or cut Social Security benefits in any way — including raising the retirement age.  The Washington, DC-based Social Security advocacy group circulated a letter to all 100 U.S. Senators before the vote on Dec. 21, opposing any efforts to raise the retirement age. 

According to Richtman, nearly 3 million public sector employees are on the verge of being able to receive the Social Security benefits they’ve earned — thanks to the United States Senate. 

“We supported this bill because it removes an unfairness in the system by finally allowing teachers, firefighters, and police officers (among others) and their families to collect full Social Security benefits. Many of our own members and supporters made it clear that they want the WEP & GPO repealed,” says Richtman.

“The Senate vote delivers us to the doorstep of a long-sought goal — to restore fairness to a system that has worked incredibly well for nearly 90 years to provide American workers with basic financial security,” says Richtman. 

According to a statement issued by National Education Association, Martha Karlovetz estimated that these discriminatory laws have cost her more than a hundred thousand dollars since 1995, when she retired from teaching at the Parkway School District outside St. Louis, Missouri. And if her husband had passed away before her, the laws would have meant that Karlovetz would have received only $14 per month in survivor benefits, even though her husband paid Social Security taxes throughout his 40-year career at McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing.

“The repeal of GPO and WEP is truly a historic win for all public employees and their families,” said Karlovetz. “These unfair provisions have taken a great toll. I have lost well over $110,000 in benefits earned in the 15 years I worked and paid into Social Security before becoming a teacher in Missouri, a GPO-WEP state. Now that we have helped achieve this victory, educators like me can breathe easier. For some, this is truly life-changing,” she says.

With the 119th Congress fast approaching, Congressional lawmakers must work together to fix a financially ailing Social Security Program.  Just like they did to pass bipartisan legislation to right a wrong affecting millions of retirees and public sector workers.  

To see Nov. 8 CBO correspondence to Sen. Grassley as to impact of S. 82 on the Social Security program, go to https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-11/60876-HR82.pdf

 To download a CRS report that details Social Security beneficiaries affected by both the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), to https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45845

Social Security must be key issue in 2024 Presidential Election

Published in RINewsToday on July 17, 2023

Last Wednesday, 178 House Democrats, (90% of the House Democratic caucus) led by Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) introduced  H.R. 4583, the “Social Security 2100 Act of 2023.” The 108-page bill would expand Social Security’s benefits, with no cuts, and keep the system fiscally strong for decades to come. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) has introduced the companion measure in the upper Chamber.

In May, to drum up support, enthusiasm, and attention for H.R. 4583, Larson, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member, was joined by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-,New York), Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D- Massachusetts) and other House leaders to announce the upcoming introduction of Social Security 2100.

“10,000 Baby Boomers a day become eligible for Social Security, making the point of acting now even more urgent, says Larson. “I am proud to be joined again by a majority of my Democratic colleagues to introduce Social Security 2100, and again, ask my Republican colleagues, whose legislation we’ve included, to join us in helping uplift the 65 million Americans who rely on it. Including lifting 5 million Americans out of poverty, providing 23 million a tax cut, and making sure that Americans are able to get the essential benefits that allow them to pay rent, buy groceries, and fill their prescriptions,” he says.

“It’s important that the Social Security benefits that working Rhode Islanders have earned keep up with the cost of living, and that’s exactly what H.R.4583 – Social Security 2100 Act will accomplish. Unfortunately, extreme Republicans in the House are trying to cut Social Security instead of strengthening it. But I am determined to fight for Rhode Island’s seniors in Congress to ensure they receive the benefits they’ve earned,” says Congressman Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), a sponsor of the legislative proposal. 

H.R. 4583: The Nuts and Bolts

On July 12, 2023, H.R. 4583 was introduced and referred to the House Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce Committees, being introduced in the lower chamber that day.

According to a legislative fact sheet, H.R. 4583, the legislative proposal would increase and expand essential benefits to Social Security beneficiaries. Larson’s legislation would:

•   Increase benefits 2% across the board for all Social Security beneficiaries for the first time in 52 years.  

• Improve the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), so it reflects the inflation actually experienced by seniors.

• Increase benefits to boost lower income seniors.

• Improve benefits for middle-income widows and widowers from two-income households.

• Restore student benefits up to age 26, for the dependent children of disabled, deceased, or retired workers.

• Increase access to benefits for children living with grandparents or other relatives.

• Repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that currently penalize many public servants.

• End the 5-month waiting period to receive disability benefits.

• Increases benefits by an additional 5% for the most elderly and those who have been receiving disability benefits the longest, those beneficiaries who have been receiving benefits for 15 years or more.

 • Provide caregiver credits to ensure that people (mostly women) are not penalized in retirement for taking time out of the workforce to care for children or other dependents.

• End the disability benefit cliff, replacing it with a gradual offset for earnings.

• Cut taxes for 23 million middle-income beneficiaries.

• Correct an unintended flaw in how Social Security benefits are wage-indexed, to prevent benefits from dropping (a “notch”) if the wage index decreases.

• Ensure that these benefits do not result in reduced Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments or a loss of eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP.

• Combine the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds into one fund to ensure seamless benefit payments.

• Provide the Social Security Administration with resources to improve customer service.

Social Security 2100 Pays for These Benefits by:

• Ensuring millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share by applying FICA to earnings above $400,000.

H.R. 4583 would pay for strengthening the Social Security Trust Fund and pay for the enhanced benefits by having millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share by applying FICA to earnings above $400,000, with those extra earnings counted toward benefits at a reduced rate. The bill closes the loophole of avoiding FICA taxes and receiving a lower rate on investment income by adding an additional 12.4% net investment income tax (NIIT) only for taxpayers making over $400,000.

Social Security advocates call for passage

“By re-introducing his revised Social Security 2100 Act, Congressman John Larson once again defies the media narrative that ‘no one in Washington has the courage’ to address the program’s future,” says Max Richtman, President and CEO, of the Washington, DC-based National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, noting that the legislation extends the solvency of the Social Security trust fund for decades while also providing American seniors with an expansion of benefits.  Larson tackles the funding of the expansion of benefits by asking high earners to begin paying their fair share into the program, says Richtman. 

“At a time when House Republicans have proposed cutting benefits by raising the retirement age and other means — Congressman Larson offers a commonsense, fair, and forward-looking plan.

Not only is the Social Security 2100 Act wise policy, but it’s also overwhelmingly popular with voters across the political spectrum,” says Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works and Chair of the Strengthen Social Security Coalition.

As the debate over Social Security heats up before the 2024 Presidential election, Altman charges that the nation’s media  refuses to “take Democratic plans to protect and expand Social Security seriously, and fails to call out Republicans for their unwillingness to state what they are for, not just what they are against.”

“Reporters are implicitly dismissing these bills because they cannot pass the House and Senate without Republican support. Instead of pressuring Congressional Republicans to introduce their own legislation, the mainstream media provides the Republicans with the cover they seek by claiming that both parties are avoiding action on Social Security” says Altman.

According to Altman, earlier this year President Joe Biden used the presidential bully pulpit at the State of the Union address to call out Republicans for their plans to cut Social Security and Medicare, forcing them to take these program cuts off the table during the debt ceiling negotiations. “If Biden champions a plan that expands benefits with no cuts, while requiring those earning over $400,000 to pay more, the mainstream media will be unable to ignore it,” predicts Altman. 

Congressional strategies regarding Social Security

On the same day that Larson introduced his legislation, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, held a hearing, “Protecting Social Security for All: Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share,”  on his legislation, S. 1174, the Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act.  A companion measure was introduced in the House by Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (D-Pennsylvania), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee.

At the July 12th Senate Budget Committee hearing, Whitehouse explained that his legislation would bring enough revenue from the wealthiest to ensure that Social Security benefits will be paid and on time for the next 75 years and beyond.

“Right now, the cap on Social Security contributions means a tech exec making $1 million effectively stops paying into the program at the end of February, while a schoolteacher making far less contributes through every single paycheck all year,” says Whitehouse at the hearing. “That’s not fair, and my Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act would fix that by requiring contributions to Social Security on wages above $400,000,” said the Rhode Island Senator.  

Whitehouse stressed the importance of Social Security to his Rhode Island constituents, by mentioning their comments and thoughts. 

 “I rely on my Social Security as my only source of income.  I would find it impossible to continue to live independently if Social Security were changed, reduced or eliminated.  Social Security benefits were a contract between the federal government and its citizens,” said Robert of Pawtucket.

Another Rhode Islander, Antonella of North Providence, said: “I would be very sad and depressed if there were any cuts to Social Security.  I just get by as it is.” And Laurel of Pawtucket said that without Social Security, she “would have to go back to work and probably have to work until I die.” 

Earlier this Congress, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced their own bill, S. 393, the Social Security Expansion Act (Whitehouse is an original cosponsor).   The Sanders-Warren bill would expand benefits by $ 2,400 each year while fully funding the program for the next three-quarters of a century and beyond.

As to the GOP position on Social Security, the House Republican Study Committee released a plan to cut Social Security by $718 billion over 10 years.  This plan, endorsed by three-fourths of the  House GOP Caucus), would also raise the retirement age to 69 (for everyone who is currently 59 and younger), which would effectively cut benefits by an estimated 13 percent every year and especially harm low-income workers.  It would also reduce benefits for future beneficiaries who earned a “higher salary” before retirement. Also, only “modest adjustments” to the Social Security program as it operates would be made but it doesn’t clarify the changes.

It is important to note that three fourths of the House GOP caucus endorse the RSC budget, making cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

According to SSW’s Altman, while Democratic proposals (Larson, Whitehouse and the Sanders- Warren proposals) to expand Social Security and Medicare are popular with Democratic, Republican and independent voters, Republican politicians have chosen to not co-sponsor any of these bills.

My final thoughts…

Polls show that Social Security and Medicare, two of the nation’s largest social safety net programs, are extremely popular. According to a poll released in March 2023 by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs research, 79% of Americans are opposed to reducing the benefits that Social Security beneficiaries receive.  As to raising Social Security’s eligibility age from 67 to 70, 75% of American’s were against it.

Another poll released last March found that nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they oppose reducing spending on Social Security or Medicare, according to polling from Axios.  

The Congressional debate on financially shoring up Social Security and expanding benefits is of   extreme interest to 66 million older and disabled people (175,840 beneficiaries in Rhode Island), who rely on monthly payments from the program.  But the Social Security debate must include America’s younger generations, too. 

With 477 days left before the 2024 presidential elections, expanding Social Security and making the program fiscally sound and to ultimately be available to Gen Exers (1965 to 1979), Millennials (1980 to 1994), Gen Z (1995-2012) and Gen Alpha (2013 to 2025) must become a key election issue. Social Security beneficiaries and America’s younger generations must call on Congress to expand Social Security benefits and ensure its fiscal viability for every generation.  “Keep Your Hands Off Social Security” must be the powerful message they send to all presidential and congressional candidates before the upcoming 2024 presidential election.     

To review the text of Larson’s H.R. 4583, “Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust Act,” go to https://larson.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/larson.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/final-2023.07.11-text-of-social-security-2100-act.pdf.

To watch a video of Larson’s May press conference announcing the upcoming introduction of H.R. 4583, the Social Security 2100, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO8QYRRQ-UQ.

Here is a copy of RSC’s FY 2024 Budget, Protecting America’s Economic Security https://hern.house.gov/uploadedfiles/202306141135_fy24_rsc_budget_print_final_c.pdf.