Midterm elections put Social Security funding gaps on the ballot

With Social Security’s main trust fund on course to be depleted in 2032, Congress will face mounting pressure to find remedies and avert benefit cuts.

Next week's midterm elections could prove momentous for Social Security, with time running out to put the program on solid financial ground. Social Security trustees' most recent report projects that the program's main trust fund is on course to be depleted by late 2032, after which Social Security recipients would face a more than 20% cut in benefits. In effect, that means the burden of repairing Social Security will fall on both sitting and newly elected lawmakers. If Congress wants to avert what would amount to a devastating financial blow for millions of Americans, it will need to solve an issue that previous generations of legislators have punted on for decades.

"The pressure on Congress is going to just be tremendous going forward," said Martha Shedden, president of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, an organization that trains Social Security advisers. "Every time that the annual trustees report comes out, there's more and more consternation about what lawmakers are doing." Social Security's funding is running low largely due to demographic factors, as the U.S. population ages. More baby boomers are claiming benefits while comparatively fewer workers are paying into the program, forcing the agency to draw down its trust funds. Concerns over the future of Social Security — a key issue for older Americans, a powerful political constituency