Seven Social Security bills in Congress and what each would change
With the midterm elections a few weeks away, Social Security legislation has been piling up in Congress. Seven bills introduced since June show how wide the range of ideas has become. Some would raise taxes on high earners, and others would simply let grieving families apply for survivor benefits online. None of them has moved past referral to committee. Taken together, though, they show where the debate over the program's finances is likely to go once lawmakers take it up in earnest. The deadline behind the bills The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report projects that the trust fund paying retirement and survivor benefits, known formally as the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) fund, will run out of reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032. Measured together with the Disability Insurance fund, the projected depletion date is 2034. If the two funds were combined, incoming tax revenue would cover about 83 percent of scheduled benefits at that point, according to the Congress...
