[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4220-S4221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Social Security
Mr. President, I have been working on Social Security now 8 years.
Why? One, it is a guarantee--an intergenerational guarantee--made to
Americans, when they get to a certain age, to retire. It is an earned
benefit which says that, after a lifetime of work and contribution,
Americans can count on a measure of financial security.
Today, more than 75 million Americans rely on Social Security. Most
are retired workers. Many are disabled. Others are widows or widowers
and children.
Now, let's just set the context: A program that 75 million Americans
rely
[[Page S4221]]
on, 10 million baby boomers a day become eligible for, and in 6 years,
if Congress does nothing, by law, their benefits will be cut almost 29
percent. So let's just say that once more. If Congress does nothing, in
6 years, by law, benefits going to 75 million Americans--and more at
that time--will be cut by almost 29 percent.
We have known this is coming. It is because there has been a
continued drawdown from the Social Security trust fund. By law, Social
Security cannot pay out more than it receives. Currently, it is
receiving money from payroll taxes but also from the trust fund. When
the trust fund goes belly up in 6 years and the only income is that
which current workers are paying, then the amount going out has to
fall, and it will fall 28.5 percent if we wait until then to fix
things.
I am pleased to say, though, that there is now momentum on both
sides--Republicans and Democrats--to find a solution and to preserve
benefits for those who have spent their lifetime earning them.
By the way, people ask: How is Social Security going bankrupt? I have
been paying into it my whole life. Everybody I know has been paying
into it their whole life. So why is it going bankrupt now?
I point out to people that when Social Security came along--I don't
know--there were like five kids per family, and now there are like two
kids per family. And when Social Security was first enacted, you didn't
get benefits until you were 65, but the average age of death was 62.
Now people live until they are 82, and they are getting their hips
replaced when they are 75 to go bungee jumping in New Zealand. So the
point being is that people are living far longer and they are living
more actively, and as a result of that, we are drawing down that trust
fund.
So my Democratic colleague from Illinois Dick Durbin, he and I just
introduced the PROMISE Act, along with a group of colleagues,
Republican and Democrat. And the PROMISE Act sets up a process. It
doesn't dictate a policy. It sets up a process that puts Congress on
the clock to save Social Security.
What the PROMISE Act does, it says that Congress shall come up with
multiple options to present to the Senate Finance Committee or to the
Ways and Means Committee in the House in order for them to consider it,
have it scored, and be delivered to Congress in order to deliberate.
And then it says that the relevant committee--say, Senate Finance--has
7 working days to consider it and then it comes to the floor and then
we have a vote on it.
That begs the question, Why do it now? Why not wait until next
Congress? Because every year we wait, it gets harder and harder to fix
Social Security. The amount of cuts required or the amount of taxes to
be raised are more dramatic, more drastic, and more likely to harm an
individual's personal finances.
We are not dictating a policy. We are just setting up a process.
Now, by the way, in full honesty, I have a policy I have been working
on, but my policy will be just one of several policies that will be
considered. My policy, we have something in it which we call the big
idea. In our big idea, we look at pension funds that are doing well,
that are not going bankrupt, that are growing in line with the needs of
the people whom they cover. This will be the kind of pension fund that
Exxon or Google or Deloitte & Touche has--it is called a pension
investment fund--in which dollars are invested at an early stage,
allowed to grow, and as those dollars grow over time, they meet the
need of the retirees as the retirees become eligible for pulling those
dollars down.
We have actually done that in the Federal Government. Under George W.
Bush, the Federal railroad retirement system was going insolvent, and
so Congress voted to allow to diversify the investments of this pension
fund. I think every Democrat voted for it in the Senate. Three
Republicans voted no, and the concerns they had have been proven to be
wrong because what has happened now, in the Federal railroad retirement
system, we still have more and more retirees relative to fewer workers,
but that system is in the black because it invests in the strength of
the U.S. economy, and the strength of the U.S. economy has been able to
pay all future obligations.
That is our big idea: What has the Congress already done successfully
with the Federal railroad retirement system? What is being done with
major corporations to meet their pension benefits? And kind of what do
you do with your own 401(k)?
So if we can set up this investment fund to supplement the payroll
taxes that are the primary source for funding Social Security, we can
meet that future obligation.
By the way, let me go back to the PROMISE Act. I am not dictating my
proposal will be the answer. We are dictating a process that can be
considered so that any proposal can be brought up. The Presiding
Officer has a proposal with Senator Warren. His proposal can come up.
So it might be his proposal. More likely, it is going to be some sort
of amalgamation.
But the only option that should not be an option is to do nothing.
Congress is--I am searching for the right word. Congress is being
irresponsible--destructively irresponsible--if we don't address Social
Security. It is driving the national debt. And if we cut benefits by 28
percent, that will double poverty among the elderly. The promised
benefit will not be delivered. By the way, if all we do is borrow, it
is going to tank our credit rating.
By the way, going back to my particular plan, folks say: Well, what
if the stock market goes down?
Under our plan, all risk is borne by the investment fund; no risk is
borne by the individual. That individual gets all the benefits she has
been promised even if the market goes up and down.
They ask me: Is it putting the trust fund into the stock market?
No way. We have a separate investment fund, separate from the Social
Security trust fund, and that is where the investment goes.
And one more thing. Folks want to say: Well, wait a second. I don't
trust the Congress, and I don't trust the President. If you put a pot
of money there, it is like honey to a bear; they are going to reach in
and grab it.
We have guardrails all over the place, including an annual audit of
how the money is invested and how the money is spent or not spent, and
that audit is put online so the American people can keep track of what
is happening with their trust fund.
I will finish by saying this. I like my plan. I think it is a good
plan. I think it is going to make it a lot easier to address the
problem. But the PROMISE Act is not about my plan. The PROMISE Act,
which Dick Durbin and I introduced, is only setting up a process by
which Congress is forced to take action before it gets any worse. My
proposal may be the one considered. It may be the Presiding Officer's.
It may be somebody else's. The only option that should not be taken is
the option of doing nothing. We need to do something.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my
remarks prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.