Overview

• The annual trustees’ report finds both the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds will be exhausted in fiscal 2034, nine months earlier than last year’s projection.
• Without legislative changes, benefits for roughly 61 million recipients will be automatically reduced by 23% when payouts exceed revenues.
• Congress has until 2033 to pass reforms under current financing rules or face automatic cuts to Social Security benefits.
• Demographic shifts—an aging baby-boomer population and lower birthrates—are reducing the worker-to-beneficiary ratio and accelerating the program’s shortfall.
• Lawmakers are debating measures such as raising the retirement age, increasing or lifting the $176,100 payroll tax cap, and adjusting benefit formulas to restore long-term solvency.