AARP challenges Senate plan to speed Social Security overhaul
The seniors’ lobby says the PROMISE Act would compress scrutiny of changes to a retirement program facing projected cuts in 2032.
By Amanda Ross · Deals Correspondent
· 4 min read
AARP has come out against a bipartisan Senate proposal designed to accelerate congressional action on Social Security, raising objections to the process as the program approaches a projected funding shortfall. The Social Security trustees reported in June that the retirement trust fund could be depleted in the fourth quarter of 2032, after which 78% of scheduled benefits would be payable absent congressional action.
The bill, known as the Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone Act, or PROMISE Act, was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators including Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Its stated purpose, according to the senators’ July 14 announcement, is to create a procedure for Congress to begin acting on Social Security.
AARP, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focused on issues affecting older Americans, said in a July 21 letter from Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond that it opposes using a special process for such legislation. LeaMond wrote to Durbin and Cassidy that AARP “strongly object[s] to fast-tracking Social Security changes through Congress.”
AARP said it wants Social Security changes to proceed through regular order, which generally means committee consideration, hearings, amendments and floor debate under standard congressional procedures. LeaMond wrote that if regular order is considered appropriate for routine legislation, it should apply to Social Security as well.
How the proposal would operate
Under the PROMISE Act, the Social Security Advisory Board, an independent bipartisan advisory committee, would be directed to send Congress a base bill intended to keep Social Security trust funds solvent for at least 50 years.
The proposal would then set out a defined path for consideration in Congress. According to the senators’ announcement, the measure would be introduced by House and Senate majority leaders, or by any member if leadership did not act. It would go to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, which could hold hearings and amend it.
If the committees did not report the measure, it would be discharged automatically and placed on the House and Senate calendars. Members could offer substitute amendments, and the chambers could vote after 100 hours of consideration. Passage would require a three-fifths vote in the Senate and a majority vote in the House.
AARP objected that the procedure could reduce public input and accountability. LeaMond wrote that the bill would ask a four-member advisory board to prepare a 50-year solvency plan in just over a month. She also said that, if the board failed, any two members of Congress could force votes on their own proposals within weeks.
A spokesperson for Durbin disputed AARP’s characterization in an email, saying the PROMISE Act would not bypass the normal legislative process for changing Social Security. The spokesperson said the bill would give Social Security more scrutiny, discussion and debate than most measures considered by Congress.
Pressure from trust fund projections
The trustees report said the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund, which pays benefits for retirees, spouses, children and survivors, may run out three months earlier than previously projected. If that fund were combined with the disability trust fund, depletion would be projected for the third quarter of 2034, when 83% of scheduled benefits would be payable, according to the trustees.
The PROMISE Act has support from groups including the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Bipartisan Policy Center Action President Michele Stockwell said the senators were creating a bipartisan process to address congressional inaction.
AARP also sent July 21 letters opposing two other bipartisan proposals: the Fiscal Commission Act and the Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act. AARP cited similar concerns about commissions and special procedures that it said would move Social Security changes outside regular order.
Durbin said on the Senate floor Wednesday that Congress was likely to do little or nothing this year, and that waiting would make Social Security choices more costly and more difficult. Durbin and Cassidy are both due to leave office in January, according to CNBC.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
