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.