Overcoming Congressional Inertia: Here's an Idea - AEI.org
As Social Security’s financial situation continues its relentless march toward insolvency, Congress's inability to focus on the problem is creating substantial angst among seniors. This is especially acute for older Americans who depend on Social Security benefits in their daily lives. And now, with the 119th Congress coming to an end in little more than three months, the problem faces another period of inattention.
Two Pathways to a Solution Under Consideration
This year, Congress has been pondering two approaches to procedural changes designed to encourage bipartisan cooperation in creating solutions to Social Security’s complex insolvency problems. Congress introduced the Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act of 2026 (H.R.9187) in June and the PROMISE Act of 2026 (S. 4979) in July, both aiming to remove the political barriers that have stymied corrective action on Social Security’s financial imbalance for decades.
Both approaches set strict timeliness guidelines, with limits on deliberations and debate, set timeframes for deliverables, and assurances that bipartisan viewpoints and public input inform the resulting proposals. The intent is to reduce legislative delays and force consideration of a comprehensive solution, rather than the distractions of isolated policy recommendations, and, specifically, to embrace, on a bipartisan basis, the enormity of the problem at hand.
While critics welcome the public-input provisions in either approach, they worry that mandated time constraints could limit the breadth of commentary outside Congress.
What About a Citizens’ Assembly?
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Nonresident Senior Fellow R. Glenn Hubbard has advanced the idea of a “bold reform process outside the polarised and dysfunctional electoral process, built around consulting a sample of voters directly in a citizens’ assembly” as a solution worth considering. With the dual benefit of overcoming voter mistrust in the political system and ensuring a more complete understanding of the concerns of those affected by system reform, this approach could lead to solutions more readily accepted across the spectrum of those involved.
In a piece posted on the AEI.org website, Hubbard describes the “Citizens’ Assembly” process and the three steps critical to its success. He concludes his discussion with this: “Social Security reform is stuck in deep political mud. A citizens’ assembly might just be the way to free it. It’s surely worth a try.”
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