Social Security 2100 Act
Rep. Larson's press conference, announcement, bill text and press release for the Social Security 2100 Act of 2023.
For 87 years, the Federal Government has kept the promise to all Americans: if they contribute to Social Security with each and every paycheck, they would be able to retire with dignity. President Biden has called this promise a "sacred trust."
It is Congress' responsibility to keep that promise and to safeguard Social Security for all Americans. Congress must also ensure the benefits keep up with Americans' expenses – today, tomorrow, and forever.
That's why, as Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, Rep. Larson authored the Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 4583).
Increases and Expands 12 Essential Benefits
- Increases benefits 2% across the board for all Social Security beneficiaries for the first time in 52 years!
- Improves the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), so it reflects the inflation actually experienced by seniors.
- Increases benefits to boost lower income seniors.
- Improves benefits for widows and widowers from two-income households.
- Restores student benefits up to age 26, for the dependent children of disabled, deceased, or retired workers.
- Increases access to benefits for children living with grandparents or other relatives.
- Repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) that currently penalize many public servants.
- Ends the 5-month waiting period to receive disability benefits.
- Increases benefits by an additional 5% for the most elderly who have been receiving benefits for 15 years or more.
- Provides caregiver credits to ensure that people (mostly women) are not penalized in retirement for taking time out of the workforce to care for children or other dependents.
- Ends the disability benefit cliff, replacing it with a gradual offset for earnings.
- Cuts taxes for middle-income beneficiaries.
- Corrects an unintended flaw in how Social Security benefits are wage-indexed, to prevent benefits from dropping (a “notch”) if the wage index decreases.
- Ensures that these benefits do not result in reduced Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments or a loss of eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP.
- Combines the “Old-Age and Survivors Insurance” (OASI) and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds into one fund to ensure seamless benefit payments.
Social Security 2100 Pays for These Benefits by:
- Ensuring millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share by applying FICA to earnings above $400,000, with those extra earnings counted toward benefits at a reduced rate.
Closing the loophole of avoiding FICA taxes and receiving a lower rate on investment income by adding an additional 12.4% net investment income tax (NIIT) only for taxpayers making over $400,000.
More on Social Security 2100 Act
The Trump administration this week reportedly classified thousands of immigrants living in the United States as dead in a Social Security database in an effort to force them out of the country, a scheme that was met with furious uproar from advocates and lawmakers.
Demonstrators thronged around the state Capitol in Hartford, filled a park in Stamford and crowded other venues in Connecticut as part of a national “Hands Off” day of action protesting President Donald J. Trump’s upending of the economy, immigration and every corner of federal government in little more than two months back in power.
Democrats have campaigned for years on claims that Republicans wouldcut Social Security.
With Social Security lumbering toward insolvency and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s eagle-eyed focus on the agency, some program proponents are worried it’s on the path to privatization.
As U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary leader of the Social Security Administration threatened to shut down the agency over an unfavorable court ruling on Friday, the billionaire commerce secretary came under fire for suggesting that only "fraudsters" will complain if they don't get their earned benefits.
Hundreds of people gathered at East Windsor High School on Wednesday evening to see a town hall appearance from U.S. Rep. John Larson (CT) regarding the future of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in Connecticut.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has confirmed that it is "implementing stronger identity verification procedures" to prevent fraud after a leaked memo earlier this week detailed the plans.
Newsweek has contacted the SSA for comment via email.