Headline RoundupSeptember 3rd, 2020

Congress Estimates Social Security to Run Out by 2031

Social Security, Donald Trump, Payroll Tax Cuts, Tax Cuts, Economy And Jobs, Life During Covid-19

AllSides Summary

On Wednesday, a Congressional Budget Report (CBO) predicted that the Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) fund, which pays retirement benefits, would run out in 2031. The report estimated that the fund would decrease from $2.8 trillion today to $533 billion in 2030, and run out the following year without any congressional action. These numbers come after President Donald Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop collecting payroll tax, which is primarily responsible for the Social Security fund, through the end of the year. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking for an expedited determination about whether the Treasury Department and IRS's guidance implementing the payroll-tax deferral is a "rule" for purposes of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The story was primarily covered by left- and center-rated outlets; some coverage from the left framed the declining Social Security numbers as Trump's fault for cutting payroll tax. As of Thursday afternoon, Marketwatch was the only right-rated outlet to cover the news.

Featured Coverage of this Story

From the Center

Social Security trust fund to run out by 2031: CBO

The Hill

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The Hill

News

The Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance fund, which pays out retirement benefits, is on track to run out in 2031 as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic takes its toll, according to a Wednesday report by the Congressional Budget Office.

Without congressional action to address the shortfalls, the depletion of the fund would lead to benefit cuts for retirees.

CBO projected that the OASI fund would drop from $2.8 trillion today to $533 billion in 2030, and run out the following year.

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From the Center

Biden Claims Trump Has ‘Planned Cuts To Social Security’ By Killing The Payroll Tax. What Are The Facts?

Forbes

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Analysis

Last week, I objected to Kamala Harris’s claim that Trump’s plan would cause Social Security checks to “stop coming.”

Now, the Biden campaign itself has a commercial, with Biden-approved text:

“The Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration just released an analysis of Trump’s planned cuts to Social Security. Under Trump’s plan, Social Security would become permanently depleted by the middle of calendar year 2023. If Trump gets his way, Social Security benefits will run out in just 3 years from now. Don’t let it happen. Joe Biden will protect...

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From the Left

Social Security could come to a screeching halt

CNN (Online News)

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Opinion

Donald Trump once claimed that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City and not lose any voters. He's now seeing whether the same is true if he kills Social Security.

His unilateral, unprecedented step of deferring the collection of payroll taxes, the backbone of Social Security, is the murder weapon he would use.

Open on CNN (Online News)

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