U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered an opening statement on Mar. 25 at a committee hearing focused on the future solvency of Social Security.
The topic is important because Social Security provides essential income for millions of Americans, particularly seniors who rely on these benefits as their primary source of financial support. According to Merkley, about half of elderly households depend on Social Security for at least half their income, and one in five Americans over age 50 have no retirement savings.
Merkley said that independent estimates from both the Social Security Administration and Congressional Budget Office predict the program's retirement trust fund will become insolvent by 2032. If this occurs, "benefits will be slashed between 23 and 28 percent," he said. He noted that approximately 68 million Americans receive benefits each month, including nearly one million Oregonians.
Merkley outlined two conflicting laws governing Social Security: one requiring full benefit payments to enrollees and another limiting payments to available funds. He warned that this could force either benefit cuts or borrowing in violation of existing law—"a problem with two unworkable outcomes that is entirely avoidable," he said.
He shared results from town hall surveys across Oregon indicating strong public support for raising the cap on contributions and taxing investment income to help stabilize funding. "Raising the contribution cap is a clear, simple, bipartisan fix that voters support," Merkley said.
Merkley also criticized recent federal actions he described as harmful to seniors' access to benefits due to staff reductions at the Social Security Administration and called for President Trump to propose solutions in his upcoming budget plan. "President Trump has a responsibility to put forward a proposal that will fix this for seniors," he said.
He concluded by urging Congress to address these challenges promptly: "Congress needs to grapple right now with how we will provide for Social Security to protect that future."
