This information (edited) is from Nancy Altman, President and co-founder of Social Security Works:
The Social Security Board of Trustees just released its annual report to Congress: Social Security has an accumulated surplus of roughly $2.9 trillion.
At the end of the century, it will cost just 6.07% of GDP, a much smaller percentage of GDP than Germany, Austria, France, and most other industrialized countries spend on their retirement, survivors and disability programs.
Because Social Security’s income and outgo are projected out so far—three quarters of a century—the Report projects a modest shortfall. (This is a much longer projection period than private pensions use and even more than most other countries use for their Social Security programs.)
Social Security is 100% funded for the next 16 years, 93% funded for the next 25 years, 87% funded over the next 50 years and 84% funded for the next 75 years. Congress can raise enough revenue to eliminate the projected shortfall. We can afford to expand Social Security.
Democrats have specific concrete plans to ensure that all benefits will be paid in full and on time for the foreseeable future, and to address the retirement income crisis by increasing Social Security benefits.
The Social Security 2100 Act, introduced by Rep. John Larson (D-CT), has 203 cosponsors in the House of Representatives—over 85% of all Democratic representatives. Larson has held several hearings on the bill and intends to bring it to the House floor this spring.
Several other bills to protect and expand Social Security benefits have been introduced in the House and Senate, and nearly every 2020 presidential candidate serving in Congress is a member of the bicameral Expand Social Security Caucus.
No Republican in Congress has cosponsored any Social Security bills introduced by Democrats, or introduced their own, but the bills are totally bipartisan. Republicans ‘“solutions” involve benefit cuts, overwhelmingly opposed by voters across the political spectrum, including Tea Partiers and the most conservative Republicans.
On March 21, a Pew Research Center poll showed that 68% of those identified as Republican/Lean Republican believe Congress should make no cuts to Social Security. A year ago, in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, Public Policy Polling found that 56% of Trump voters and 55% of those identifying as Republican would be more likely to vote for a candidate who “supported expanding and increasing Social Security.”
Editorial comment:
Any other “facts” are scare tactics.