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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has unveiled legislation designed to force Congress to address Social Security’s long-term funding problems before millions of retirees face automatic benefit cuts.

The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone (PROMISE) Act comes just weeks after the Social Security Board of Trustees warned that the program’s trust funds are on track to become depleted in 2032. If Congress fails to act, the program would continue paying benefits from incoming payroll taxes, but recipients would see an across-the-board reduction of about 22% in scheduled benefits. 

The legislation, introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), along with a bipartisan group of co-sponsors including Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Angus King (I-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Alan Armstrong (R-Okla.), does not prescribe how Social Security should be fixed. Instead, it establishes a process intended to ensure Congress cannot continue postponing the issue.

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A structured path to reform

Under the proposal, the independent Social Security Advisory Board would develop recommendations to restore the retirement and disability trust funds to long-term solvency, with the goal of keeping the system financially sound for at least 50 years. Congress would then be required to consider and vote on the recommendations under expedited procedures, preventing the proposals from languishing indefinitely in committee. 

Supporters argue that the legislation addresses Congress’s longstanding reluctance to tackle one of the nation’s most politically sensitive issues.

“Americans sent us to Congress not to observe the problems but to solve the problems,” Durbin said when introducing the legislation, calling Social Security’s finances the country’s most pressing long-term fiscal challenge. 

Cassidy said the legislation is intended to preserve promised benefits for both current retirees and future generations before the trust fund reaches insolvency.

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Critics worry about transparency

Not everyone supports the approach.

AARP, the nation’s largest advocacy organization for older Americans, has urged lawmakers to reject the fast-track process, arguing that changes to Social Security should be debated through the normal legislative process with ample public input.

The organization warned that accelerated procedures could reduce transparency and potentially allow significant benefit changes to be approved during a post-election lame-duck session with limited opportunity for public scrutiny.

AARP has emphasized that while it agrees Congress must address Social Security’s finances, any reforms should be debated openly because of the program’s importance to retirees and workers alike.

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Hard choices remain

The PROMISE Act deliberately avoids endorsing any specific solution, reflecting the politically difficult choices that lawmakers have avoided for years.

Among the options frequently discussed by policymakers are raising payroll taxes, lifting or eliminating the cap on wages subject to Social Security taxes, gradually increasing the retirement age, modifying benefits for higher-income retirees, or adopting a combination of revenue increases and benefit adjustments.

The trustees’ warning has increased pressure on Congress, as each year of delay narrows the range of options available to restore the program’s finances without larger changes.

While Social Security has faced financing challenges before — most notably in the early 1980s, when Congress approved bipartisan reforms that extended the program’s solvency — the current proposal focuses less on the substance of reform than on ensuring lawmakers are forced to make a decision before automatic benefit reductions become law.