Bipartisan Senators Offer Social Security Rescue Plan

With Social Security’s retirement trust fund projected to run dry in just six years, a bipartisan group of six senators introduced legislation on Tuesday designed to force Congress to confront the program’s long-term financing crisis before automatic benefit cuts take effect.

The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone (PROMISE) Act, introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Angus King (I-ME), represents a rare moment of cross-party cooperation on one of the most consequential fiscal challenges facing the federal government, as AP News reported.

The Looming Crisis

The Social Security Board of Trustees’ 2026 annual report found that the program’s retirement trust fund (OASI) is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032 — one year earlier than last year’s projections — with the combined retirement and disability trust fund (OASDI) projected to run out in 2034. If the trust fund is depleted, beneficiaries would face an automatic 22% across-the-board benefit cut, equivalent to roughly $500 per month for the average retiree, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Approximately 70 million Americans currently rely on Social Security benefits, CBS News reported.

How the PROMISE Act Works

The PROMISE Act is fundamentally a process bill rather than a policy bill. It does not itself raise taxes, reduce benefits, or change eligibility. Instead, it directs the bipartisan, seven-member Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) to draft a bill — informed by public input — that would keep the program’s trust funds solvent for at least 50 years.

If the SSAB does not produce a proposal, the House and Senate majority leaders — or any bipartisan pair in either chamber — can put forward their own base bill. The legislation is designed to guarantee an up-or-down vote in Congress on a solvency plan, with any proposal requiring a three-fifths vote (60 votes) in the Senate and a majority vote in the House to become law. The bill also creates a recurring decennial solvency review process to prevent future inaction.

Why This Matters Now

Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the eligibility age was raised from 65 to 67 based on recommendations from the Greenspan Commission. Since then, demographic shifts, reduced immigration, and tax policy changes have steadily eroded the program’s finances.

The 2026 Trustees report specifically attributed part of the accelerated insolvency timeline to the 2025 Republican tax and spending bill signed by President Trump, which decreased tax revenues flowing into Social Security, as well as reduced immigration, which means fewer workers paying into the system, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

“The longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program’s financial shortfall,” Durbin said in a statement. “We were elected to solve problems — we owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect and strengthen this critical program.”

Expert Reactions

Fiscal policy experts broadly welcomed the bipartisan effort. Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement: “Social Security is only six years from insolvency — we need action to save it, yesterday. The PROMISE Act would establish a thoughtful bipartisan process to help Congress do its job and rescue Social Security before it’s too late.”

MacGuineas added a stark warning: “Promising not to touch Social Security is just an implicit endorsement of a 22% across-the-board benefit cut.”

Ben Ritz, vice president of policy development at the Progressive Policy Institute, commended the bill for “not only offering one possible mechanism to fast-track bipartisan solutions that are long overdue through regular order, but also creating a recurring check-in to discourage policymakers from getting this close to a similar cliff again in the future.”

Political Hurdles Ahead

Despite the bipartisan backing, the bill faces significant obstacles. A similar effort to create a federal debt commission in 2024 collapsed when Americans for Tax Reform — led by its president, Grover Norquist — aggressively lobbied against it. The traditional partisan divide remains the central obstacle: Republicans have historically opposed tax increases, while Democrats have resisted raising the retirement age or cutting benefits.

The 2026 midterm elections may further complicate matters, as lawmakers become more risk-averse on politically sensitive entitlement reform. The three-fifths Senate threshold of 60 votes is a high bar in a closely divided chamber.

Still, there are signs of growing momentum for action. Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) — an unlikely bipartisan pair — co-authored a New York Times op-ed calling for raising the cap on the Social Security payroll tax, as Yahoo News reported. Meanwhile, Reps. Cole (R-OK) and Suozzi (D-NY) introduced the Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act in the House.

What to Watch For

The coming months will be critical. Key questions include whether the PROMISE Act can attract enough co-sponsors to demonstrate serious bipartisan momentum, how the House will respond with a companion bill, and whether the SSAB can produce recommendations that bridge the partisan divide on tax increases versus benefit cuts.

With roughly six years until the projected insolvency date, the window for action is narrowing. As Durbin put it: “Congress has known about this challenge for more than a decade, but it has not taken up these politically challenging issues. And the longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address this issue in the future.”