Jason Smith

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said Wednesday that Congress must act now to avert a projected shortfall in Social Security's main trust fund by the end of 2032.

"Congress needs to get their act together to address Social Security and the insolvency that's coming, instead of poking blame at other people whenever it is our duty and our responsibility," Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., said at a subcommittee hearing with Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano.

A report issued Tuesday by Social Security's board of trustees predicted that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund would be depleted in 2032, three months earlier than projected last year. After depletion, incoming revenue would cover about 78% of scheduled benefits, declining to 62% by 2100.

The report cited several illustrative options, including raising the payroll tax rate from 12.4% to 16.65%, cutting current and future benefits by 25.2%, or cutting benefits by 30.3% only for those becoming eligible in 2026 or later. Other combinations of tax increases and benefit reductions could also close the gap.

Smith noted that Congress has not enacted a major Social Security solvency overhaul since the bipartisan 1983 reforms signed by President Ronald Reagan.

He also pointed to the Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January 2025, which repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, two rules that had reduced benefits for some public-sector retirees.

"There have only been a couple changes to Social Security in the last 40 years," Smith said. "One of them was under my chairmanship with WEP/GPO just in 2025. But we've seen nothing in years past.

"And so, I hope, commissioner, our colleagues will come together, both Republican and Democrat, to do it for those people who rely on Social Security. Do it for people like my mother. That is all she has. That is all she lives on.

"And that's difficult for her to do. But there's a lot of people like that and that's why we have to come together."

Smith's comments came the same day a bipartisan group of senators urged Congress to act on Social Security's long-term solvency.

"It's clear now that Congress shouldn't delay any longer," Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a joint statement. "Several of us have been coming together to talk about how we can strengthen Social Security for current and future generations of retirees."