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Bipartisan Policy Center Official Testifies on Social Security’s Future - bipartisanpolicy.org
As noted in today’s headline article on this site, the temperature appears to be rising in Washington over Social Security’s looming financial disaster. Yesterday, before the United States Senate Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center vice president of economic policy Shai Akabas delivered extensive remarks on the future of Social Security. In opening his remarks, which you can read in full here, he stressed: “the clock is ticking, the problem is larger than it was last year, and the window for a manageable, bipartisan solution is closing.” And, with the program’s insolvency projection now set at 2032, he suggested that members of this committee “… can be the generation of lawmakers who finally address it.”
In addition to framing the financial picture, Akabas discussed Social Security’s deficit and its relationship to the nation’s overall debt financing, and summarized the factors that have brought the program to the brink of insolvency. His remarks also stressed the importance–criticality, really–of a bipartisan approach to resolving the crisis, citing the recent Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act of 2026 (H.R. 9187) bill to establish a joint commission that would enable both parties to achieve poltical cover in the face of the tough decisions ahead.
Akabas closed with a discussion of the consequences of continued congressional inaction on Social Security’s dilemma, including the reality that a temporary “bridge” will be required at this point to stave off benefit reductions. He also presented thoughts on “what a solution must look like,” suggesting the core principles needed to ensure achievement of a durable Social Security solution.