Senator Patty Murray is warning voters that the future of Social Security could hinge on which party controls Congress after Tuesday’s midterm elections. The Washington Democrat said the program could be "cut to ribbons" if lawmakers do not act to protect benefits. Democrats want billionaires to pay their fair share.
THIS is the Social Security election,” Murray wrote on X on Sunday. We want to strengthen this program so we can keep our word to people who spent their lives paying into it.” Social Security's financial challenges are becoming increasingly urgent, regardless of which party controls Washington. The 2026 Social Security Trustees Report projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivor benefits, will have enough reserves to pay scheduled benefits in full only until 2032.
If Congress takes no action by then, incoming revenue is projected to cover just about 78 percent of scheduled OASI benefits, which means there would be an automatic 22 percent cut for beneficiaries. Murray's warning comes as Democrats seek to make Social Security a major dividing line in the midterm elections on Tuesday. Her argument is that lawmakers should address Social Security's financing gap by bringing more revenue into the system, particularly from wealthy Americans, rather than reducing benefits.
At a Senate Budget Committee hearing in March, Murray argued that the wealthiest Americans should contribute more toward Social Security and warned against allowing workers and retirees to absorb large benefit reductions. "Especially when we are now six years away from retired workers facing this 24 percent cut in their Social Security benefits, so I hope we all understand that and focus on that.” However, the debate over the program's future is more complicated than an immediate choice between keeping or eliminating Social Security. Lawmakers have a range of options for closing the financing gap, from raising the payroll tax rate to increasing the amount of wages subject to Social Security taxes as well as reducing scheduled benefits outright or combining revenue increases with benefit changes.
"Although I think her comments are hyperbole, she may have a point," Kevin Thompson, the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek. "Trump has come out and said that we cannot afford daycare, Medicare and Social Security. He believes the primary role of the federal government should be to protect the country, with military funding remaining a priority." Republicans have generally said publicly that they want to protect Social Security benefits, but Democrats have focused on comments from GOP leaders about the need to reform mandatory spending programs, which includes benefit programs like Social Security.
No matter who controls Congress after the midterms, the 22 percent cut will go into effect unless lawmakers can come together on a bipartisan solution to the funding shortfall, experts said. At that point, the ongoing income would be sufficient to cover only around 78 percent of scheduled retirement and survivor benefits. That would mean a roughly 22 percent cut relative to scheduled benefits.
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