Social Security reform proposals from incoming senators, Digi Mart USA News: Democrats flipped seven Senate seats in red states on Tuesday and won control of the chamber, while Republicans will also welcome new members. Together, the 17 newcomers from both parties will join the next Congress in confronting one of Washington’s most-avoided problems: how to keep Social Security paying full benefits.
The program’s trust fund is projected to run dry in late 2032. After that, payroll tax revenue would cover only about 78% of scheduled benefits, forcing an automatic cut of roughly 22% unless Congress acts.
Senators elected to full terms this week serve until January 2033, meaning the deadline falls during their tenure.
Because Social Security cannot be changed through budget reconciliation, a fix will likely require 60 votes and support from both parties. Nearly all of the newcomers addressed Social Security during their campaigns, though the issue is no longer the untouchable political third rail it once was, and the word “protecting” the program can mean very different things.
Juliana Stratton, D-Illinois, said she would eliminate the cap on wages subject to the payroll tax, according to The Times Weekly. Payroll taxes currently apply only to the first $184,500 of a worker’s yearly earnings.
Eliminating that cap starting in 2027, without increasing benefits for the additional earnings taxed, would close an estimated 58% of Social Security’s projected 75-year funding shortfall, according to the Social Security Administration’s actuaries.
Josh Turek, D-Iowa, said he would lift the $184,500 cap and opposes raising the age for full benefits. Adam Hamilton, D-Kansas, would raise the earnings cap rather than eliminate it, arguing that someone earning $1 million should not pay the same Social Security tax as someone earning $184,500.
He has not taken a firm position on the retirement age.
Andy Barr, R-Kentucky, opposed changes for people already retired and called for bipartisan reforms for younger generations. He did not name specific tax or benefit changes but said reforms should encourage more private and employer-sponsored retirement savings.
Troy Jackson, D-Maine, called in a September Bangor Daily News op-ed for scrapping the payroll tax cap and increasing benefits, while ruling out privatization and raising the retirement age. Abdul El-Sayed, D-Michigan, said in his final debate that the payroll tax cap should be removed and that Social Security benefits should not be taxed.
Eliminating taxes on benefits without replacing the lost revenue would cost Social Security about $1 trillion over 10 years, plus an additional $700 billion for Medicare, according to a July analysis published by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Peggy Flanagan, D-Minnesota, backs Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act, according to Bloomberg Government.
The bill would apply payroll taxes to wages above $250,000, eventually eliminate the cap, and raise benefits. Her campaign site also supports eliminating taxes on benefits.
Kurt Alme, R-Montana, says savings from cutting waste, fraud, and abuse elsewhere in government should go toward Social Security. In an October debate, he pointed to his experience as Montana’s budget director but did not propose changes to the cap or the benefit formula.
Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire, opposes raising the retirement age, cutting benefits, and privatization. His campaign highlighted his cosponsorship of the Social Security Fairness Act, the 2025 law that boosted benefits for public workers with outside pensions.
Roy Cooper, D-North Carolina, has made the 2032 deadline a staple of his campaign speeches. He opposes benefit cuts and says wealthy Americans should contribute more to the program but has not specified how.
Annie Andrews, D-South Carolina, supports eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits but has not laid out a plan to close the funding gap. James Talarico, D-Texas, wants to eliminate the payroll tax cap for people earning over $400,000, according to Texas Public Radio.
Barry Moore, R-Alabama, backed cutting taxes on Social Security benefits on his Senate campaign website and was an original cosponsor of the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act, introduced in February 2025. The bill would remove Social Security benefits from federal taxable income and transfer general funds to replace the revenue the trust funds would lose.
Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, said at an August 2026 primary debate that growing the economy, creating jobs, and getting more people into the workforce would help shore up the program. Like Moore, Hageman was an original cosponsor of the 2025 bill to end federal income taxes on benefits.
