A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at forcing Congress to confront Social Security’s looming funding shortfall before automatic benefit cuts take effect.
The proposal comes as the latest report from Social Security trustees warns that the program’s retirement trust fund will be depleted by late 2032 unless Congress acts. At that point, Social Security would only be able to pay about 78% of scheduled benefits, resulting in an automatic cut of roughly 22% for millions of retirees.
The legislation, dubbed the PROMISE Act, would not increase Social Security funding or change benefits. Instead, it would establish a fast-track congressional process designed to force lawmakers to consider legislation to extend the program’s solvency. It was co-sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), and Thom Tillis (R-NC). The Republicans sponsoring the legislation are either retiring or have been voted out of their seats in recent primaries.
Under the bill, the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board would be tasked with drafting a “base bill” to keep the Social Security Trust Funds solvent for at least 50 years. If the advisory board fails to produce a proposal, the Senate and House majority leaders could introduce their own legislation. If they decline, any bipartisan pair of lawmakers in either chamber could do so.
The proposal would then move through the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, where lawmakers could hold hearings and offer amendments. If either committee failed to act, the legislation would automatically advance to the floor. After up to 100 hours of debate, Congress would vote on final passage, requiring a three-fifths majority in the Senate and a simple majority in the House.
“Millions of Americans rely on Social Security to live. In six years, those families will see a 22% cut to their benefits if Congress doesn’t act,” Cassidy said in a statement. “Our plan starts the process of preserving promised benefits for current retirees and the next generation of Americans.”
Supporters argue the measure addresses Congress’s longstanding inability to act on Social Security despite broad acknowledgment that the program faces a funding crisis. While lawmakers have introduced numerous proposals to shore up the trust funds, few have received floor votes.
The bill itself does not specify how Social Security should be saved. Instead, it creates a process intended to ensure Congress debates and votes on proposals that would keep the trust funds solvent for at least five decades.
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The legislation comes as lawmakers continue to offer competing visions for addressing the program’s finances. Most recently, Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have backed legislation to eliminate the Social Security payroll tax cap for high-income earners, arguing the change would generate trillions of dollars in additional revenue and strengthen the program’s finances.
Critics of that approach argue that eliminating the payroll tax cap alone would not fully restore the program’s long-term solvency and would represent a significant departure from Social Security’s traditional earned-benefit structure. Some analysts have instead proposed expanding the payroll tax to include compensation currently exempt from it, such as employer-sponsored health insurance, as an alternative to improving the program’s finances.