Social Security Needs Protection

A 2011 photo shows an exhibit at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum that commemorated the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act in August 2010. (FDR Presidential Library & Museum | via Flickr, (CC BY 2.0)

While voters are united in their support for Social Security, the leaders of the two parties could not be further apart.

The Democratic Party, which enacted Social Security in 1935, has subsequently worked to protect and expand it. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, he called it a “structure which is being built but is by no means complete.” Consistent with that vision of slow, steady progress, benefits have generally been gradually increased and additional protections, including family benefits and disability insurance, have been added since its enactment.

Decades ago, mainstream Republicans generally supported Social Security, though often opposed its expansion. In a letter to his brother, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower explained:

“Should any political party attempt to abolish social security…you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do [that].. Among them are…a few…Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

That was the 1950’s and now unfortunately, that tiny splinter group controls the Republican Party. President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise that he wouldn’t cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. He made the same claim in 2016, yet every one of his budgets in his first term included cuts to all three.

Indeed, all modern-day Republican politicians in Washington, D.C. want to cut or, even worse, radically transform our Social Security system, such as through privatization. The Republican Study Committee, which includes the vast majority of Republican members of the House of Representatives, publishes a budget every year. That budget includes deep cuts and radical changes to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, including raising the retirement age for Social Security beneficiaries. Watch what they do, not what they say!

Though Republican politicians favor cuts, they apparently don’t have the courage of their convictions. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who is a member of the Republican Study Committee, yelled “liar” at a State of the Union Address, for example, when President Joe Biden truthfully pointed out that “some Republicans, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.” (Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have specifically proposed sunsetting Social Security.)

In contrast to Republican proposals to cut or even end Social Security, we believe Social Security should be expanded. Consistent with Democratic values and the values of the founders of Social Security, one of us — Representative Gwen Moore — will be reintroducing the Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act. Social Security Works, the nonprofit organization led by the other of us, strongly endorses this thoughtful, important proposal.

The Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act would improve Social Security for everyone. It expands benefits that will be especially important for women, the very elderly, and low-wage workers, while ensuring all Americans that this vital program is able to pay all benefits in full and on time for decades to come.

The legislation updates the minimum benefit, so no one retires into poverty after a lifetime of hard work. It also provides child care credits for low-wage workers. In recognition that those who have been receiving benefits for decades are likely to have increased expenses as they have aged and have potentially exhausted other assets, this legislation increases their benefits, as well. Furthermore, the legislation restores and improves the so-called student benefit, which was wrongly eliminated in 1981.

The legislation pays for every penny of the increases and ensures that all benefits can be paid in full and on time for years to come. It does this by requiring the wealthiest to contribute to Social Security simply at the same rate as most workers do now, and requiring all covered workers to contribute just fifty cents more a week. Currently, the wealthiest Americans stop paying in after their first $176,100 in annual income, and do not pay in at all on their unearned investment income.

When Democrats retake the House, we will fight for Social Security by holding Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s feet to the fire in Congressional oversight hearings.

This accountability will be necessary as Trump has broken his promise to keep his hands off Social Security, authorizing his shadow-president Elon Musk to destroy it from within. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has hollowed out the Social Security Administration, forcing out the most senior people and reducing its workforce, which employed 67,000 people just a decade ago. The announced plan is to reduce the staff to a historically  low level of 50,000 as over 11,000 Baby Boomers turn age  65 daily, on average. This deliberate sabotage of the Social Security system will increase wait times and backlogs for beneficiaries, which amount to benefit cuts.

Worse, DOGE reportedly has access to the source codes for the systems that ensure that benefits are paid in a timely and accurate manner. Reportedly, DOGE has plans to “modernize” those codes in just a few months, something that experts say could cause system collapse. Former Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Martin O’Malley and other experts have warned that their actions could, for the first time in Social Security’s 90- year history, cause benefit interruptions

Let the record show that Republicans are allowing Elon Musk, who recently slandered Social Security by calling it a fraudulent Ponzi scheme, destroy Social Security under cover of darkness while Democrats are working every day to protect and strengthen Social Security.

The Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act would improve the economic security of every working family. This plan would further Social Security’s promise to ensure all Americans can age and retire in dignity. That is the outcome we believe Americans want and deserve.

Rep Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) represents Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District. Nancy Altman is the President of Social Security Works.